Hearts Knit Together
by Yvonne Park
Summary: "My heart is knit to yours, and it can never be separated," he said looking up at the stars. His universe now revolved around her and only her, even with the world crashing down around them. Love always wins. A Marauders Era story. James/Lily Sirius/OC Remus/OC Frank/Alice
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters sadly, Im just borrowing them for the time being. The only ones who are mine are Raea, and Amelia.**

The scarlet train appeared as Lily stepped onto the platform with her family. After six years the sight still took her breath away. Seeing that train was so comforting. She was going back to her home away from home. Lily looked around with excitement to find her friends, only to catch her mother's expression.

"Oh Lily! I hate sending you off every year!" her mom said with tears in her eyes, "I miss you so much!"

"Mom, I'll be just fine," she responded, giving her a hug.

"See you at Christmas Lils. And congratulations again on getting head girl. We are so proud of you," her dad said, taking his turn to hug her.

"Bye Dad," Lily said before turning to her sister, who had her arms folded across her chest, and a look of disgust on her face. But Lily could see the longing in her eyes as she looked at the train.

"Tunie?" Lily said carefully.

"See you later, Freak," Petunia said before turning and walking strait back through the barrier.

Lily sighed staring at the barrier, then said a final goodbye to her parents before they followed Petunia back to Kings Cross Station.

The train whistle blew and only then did Lily realize she hadn't gotten her luggage onto the train yet. She started panicking as she attempted to shove her trunk up the steps and keep her owl cage from falling. Suddenly strong arms came from inside the train and grabbed the other end of her trunk, pulling it in easily. Lily looked up to see the identity of her savior, hurrying off the platform as the train started to move, and instantly frowned as she saw the untidy black hair.

"Thank you Potter," Lily said grudgingly as the boy hefted her trunk into a better position.

"Lilykins!" James said, a huge smile lighting up his face.

"Oh my gosh, no!" Lily screamed, as she had just noticed the badge on James' chest. It looked just like hers, except that it said _Head Boy _instead of _Head Girl_. "Who in their right mind would make you Head Boy!?"

"Dumbledore apparently," James said smiling, "Wont this year be so fun!? We get to spend so much time together!"

Lily groaned as she grabbed the handle of her trunk and started dragging it down the car. James followed her as she looked in each compartment trying to find her friends.

"Potter! Why don't you just leave me alone?!" she said after he trod on her heels for the fifth time.

"Aw, Lilykins! Don't be like that!" he pouted.

"Don't call me that!" she yelled. A few people poked their heads out of their compartments to see what the commotion was about. When they saw who it was they just rolled their eyes and continued with what they were doing. It was only Potter and Evans going at it again.

"Jamesie! Where have you been?!" a voice shouted coming out of one of the compartments up ahead.

"Sorry Mum," James said as he was attacked with a hug from his best friend.

Sirius Black was easily the best looking boy at Hogwarts. Everywhere he went he was followed by a group of giggling girls. Sure enough, Lily saw a group of girls in the adjacent compartment who had their faces almost pressed to the glass to stare at Sirius. She also didn't fail to notice that some of the girls were staring at James too. He wasn't quite as handsome as his best friend, but he came in second on the hotness scale. Coming in third was the dirty-blond haired boy who sat inside the compartment Sirius had just run out of. Remus Lupin was a quiet boy, and a prefect to boot. His was a sort of rugged handsomeness. He was already finding some gray hairs, and constantly had dark circles under his eyes. This all suited him though. Sitting across from him was a small watery-eyed boy, slightly on the pudgy side, who didn't even make the list in any size, shape, or form. Nobody understood why the three most handsome boys in school were friends with Peter Pettigrew, but the four boys together made up the infamous Marauders.

Lily rolled her eyes at the group, and shoved past Sirius and James and started heading down the train again.

"Lily!" James shouted to her retreating back, "You should come sit with us!"

"Drop dead Potter," she said without even turning around, "I'm going to go find my friends."

"I think I saw them in the next car," Remus said, popping his head out of the compartment.

"Thank you Remus," Lily said, flashing him a smile before she stepped into the next car. As she slid the door shut though, she heard Remus say, "What was that for!?" She looked back and saw Remus rubbing the back of his head with James standing over him, a furious expression on his face.

Lily laughed as she turned again to the other car. As soon as she opened the door though, she heard a shriek, and barely saw it coming before she was mobbed by her three favorite people at Hogwarts. Raea, Alice, and Amelia had been her best friends for over six years. Lily stepped back to look at her best friends.

Raea Carnell was the prettiest girl at Hogwarts. She had a perfect body, creamy porcelain skin, and a beautiful face, with honey-brown eyes that could lure in any boy. Her blond tresses were always put up in a skillfully artistic way as she was a genius when it came to hair. Contrary to what most people thought of her though, she was a very quiet and soft spoken girl. She focused mostly on her studies, and didn't fawn over boys like most seventeen year olds.

Next to her stood Alice. Alice Prewett was a very sweet girl with a gentle heart. Her soft brown hair perfectly framed her heart shaped face. She had beautiful clear blue eyes, the color of the sky outside. She was the most outgoing in the group and loved to have a good time.

Last, there was Amelia Bennett. Amelia was a trusting and kind girl. She was optimistic and always looked for the best in people. She had hair as black as midnight, and curiously violet eyes. She could be loud at times, but always knew when to calm down. Focusing on anything serious for any length of time was a real challenge for her, so classes tended to be hard, and she absolutely loathed homework.

Lily hugged each of her friends in turn as they bounced with excitement in the hallway.

"Oh my gosh!" Lily said, "How are you guys? I haven't seen you all summer!"

"More on that later," Amelia said, a serious expression on her face, "Where have you been? We were all so worried!"

"I almost missed the train," she tried to explain, "And then I ran into Potter and Black-"

"Potter is still following you?" Alice asked, exasperated.

"Guess so," Lily said, rolling her eyes, "He asked me to sit with them."

"Well you don't have to worry about that anymore," Raea laughed, pulling Lily into their compartment.

**This is a new story I am trying. I have never done anything this long with chapters and everything, so help me please! haha Any Reviews or just random comments would be so awesome! I mainly just wanted to use this first chapter to introduce all of the characters. I will try to update once a week, I might even update more depending on how well Im able to write that week. Please leave a comment, I know a ton of people read this, and usually only like two actually comment. It helps me out so much when people comment! haha  
**

**-Yvonne  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter. :)**

"So how have you guys been?" Lily asked her friends. The green hills whipping past as the Hogwarts Express made its way across the English countryside. "How was your summer?"

"Mine was great!" Raea said, putting her book down, "My family went on a trip to America. We hiked around a lot of parks with really interesting land formations. One park had all of these arches in the mountains. And all the rocks there were red! It was really cool!" Raea was a muggleborn, and her family was definitely the outdoors type. They went hiking during all of the holidays.

"I went to Ireland to stay with my brother for a few weeks. You guys all remember Thomas, right?" Amelia asked, looking at her friends.

"Of course we remember Thomas!" Alice shrieked, with Lily and Raea giggling beside her, "He is SO good looking!"

"You girls talking about me?" Sirius asked, bursting into their compartment.

Every smile was wiped off their faces as they looked up at the handsome young man.

"What are you doing here Black?" Lily asked, frowning at him. Raea picked up her book, completely ignoring Sirius, and continued reading, knowing full well that he was staring at her like always.

"What? It's not against the law to roam the corridor," he responded, leaning against the side of the door, his black hair falling attractively across his face.

"We don't want you here," Amelia said coldly.

"Aw, come on girls!" Sirius pouted, "You know you love me."

"What do you want Black?" Alice asked harshly. All of the girls were very protective of each other, and they knew that Sirius had had his eye on Raea for years. Sirius was known for jumping from one girlfriend to another, and they didn't want that to happen to Raea. She was such a sweet and sensitive girl, and deserved better than Sirius Black.

"I was just looking for the lunch trolley," he shrugged, "And I decided to pop in on my four favorite girls at Hogwarts." Nobody in the compartment failed to notice that he was looking only at Raea.

"Well get it over with already," Lily said exasperatedly.

"Fine," Sirius said, a slight frown coming over his perfect face, "Why haven't you said anything Raea?"

"Why should I?" Raea said, smoothly setting her book down on her lap, and glanced back up at him with a look of absolute coldness. The other girls were surprised that Sirius did not shrink back under her gaze, as anyone else would have, but instead stared back at her with longing in his chocolate brown eyes.

"Well it's me, isn't it? Who wouldn't say something?" he responded cockily, smirking at her. When Raea continued to look wholly unimpressed he sighed and rolled his eyes, "Want to come to Hogsmead with me?"

"No," Raea responded simply.

Sirius looked shocked. "No? All I get is a no!?" he asked furiously.

"I am so glad your ears are working!" Amelia said, before standing up and, to the surprise of everyone, including himself, shoved Sirius out of the compartment, "Good bye now!" she said as she slammed the door in his face. Sirius stood in complete shock for a couple minutes before he walked back down the car.

"Wow, Amelia, that was….unexpected," Lily said, breaking the silence.

The whole compartment filled with laughter at the look on Amelia's' face. Her cheeks turned bright red, and a small smile lit up her face. Her laugh soon joined theirs, and they were still laughing when the lunch trolley came past.

"What do you guys want? I'm buying!" Raea said as soon as she could catch her breath. She stood up and made her way to the door.

"I want Cauldron cakes," Lily said enthusiastically.

"Licorice wands for me," Alice said between giggles.

"BERTIE BOTTS!" Amelia shouted, jumping up with her hand in the air. The other girls gave her curious looks at her outburst, but she ignored them and sat back down, completely composed. Though as Raea stepped out into the corridor and made to shut the door, Amelia jumped up again and shouted, "Oh oh oh! And Chocolate Frogs! And Droobles!"

"Okay Amelia…I'll get your candy," Raea said laughing, "Just calm down before you explode."

"What can I get for you dear?" the little old lady manning the lunch trolley asked as Raea walked up.

"I'd like Licorice wands, Bertie Botts, Droobles, Chocolate Frogs, and a lot of Cauldron cakes," Raea said, smiling.

"That's a lot of food," the lady laughed. Raea just shrugged and continued smiling.

As the lady was getting her food Raea looked up to see a tall, lanky boy walking down the corridor toward the trolley. He had dark brown hair and crystal clear blue eyes, though most people didn't see his eyes. In fact, most people didn't even notice him. He almost always walked with his head down, staring at the ground, like he was then. He only looked up when he made it to the trolley, but as soon as he saw Raea standing there he got a nervous look on his face. He stood there uncomfortably, shuffling his feet with his hands in his trouser pockets, as Raea paid and the lady handed her the food.

"Thank you," Raea said, gathering her food in her arms.

"FINALLY!" Amelia said, attacking Raea as she walked into the compartment. The girls all stared at her, "What? I'm hungry."

They all laughed again as they passed the food around.

"Guess who I saw in the corridor," Raea said.

"Who?" all three girls asked.

"Frank," Raea said smiling.

Amelia, Raea, and Lily looked at Alice and saw her blushing.

"You still like him?" Lily asked, smiling.

"Yes," Alice said softly.

"Have you told him?" Raea asked, putting her hand over Alice's.

Alice shook her head sadly and stared at the floor.

"Well come on girl! What are you waiting for? Get a move on!" Amelia said encouragingly.

"I don't even know what to say to him," Alice mumbled, "He would freak out if I told him. I know he would. He's just so shy. He would probably never talk to me again." Frank Longbottom was Alice's partner in Herbology, and they had been class friends for years. But she had never really talked to him outside of class, even though they were in the same house.

"You could start with hello," Lily suggested trying to keep a straight face. That finally did it, and they all started laughing again.

**Thanks to all those who read, and the few who reviewed my first chapter. I hope to get more this time! haha Feel free to tell me what you think of this story so far.**

**-Yvonne  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Harry Potter. :(**

The girls stepped onto the Hogsmead platform a few hours later. They had already changed into their robes and were struggling to drag all of their luggage off the train. The horseless carriages stood waiting in a long line pointing towards where they knew Hogwarts castle rested.

"Raea! How much luggage do you have!?" Lily asked, dragging the second of Raea's bags off the train to land in a heap next to her trunk.

"Well you guys are the ones who wanted me to bring all of my hair things," Raea said, putting her last bag over her shoulder.

"My goodness! You have a ton of stuff!" Amelia said as a huge smile spread across her face, "This year is going to be awesome!"

The other three girls laughed at Amelia's excitement as they made their way to the nearest carriage. Just as they were about to step into it however, they found someone blocking their path, followed by three more someones.

"Good evening Ladies," Sirius said silkily, leaning against the side of the carriage.

"Get out of our way Black!" Lily said coldly.

"Aw, come on Lilykins, he just said hi," James said strutting up, Remus and Peter following him.

"Don't call me that!" Lily hissed.

"Okay, calm down Lil," James said frowning. Lily rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Sirius, who was still blocking their way.

"Move it Black, or I will have to move you myself," Amelia said, stepping forward and glaring at him.

Sirius looked slightly taken aback, and it was obvious that he still remembered her shoving him out of the compartment on the train.

"Wow, relax Bennett," he said as he backed away with his hands up.

"Come on guys," Remus said, grabbing James and Sirius by the back of their collars and started dragging them away, "It's obvious the girls don't want to talk to us right now."

"Thanks Remus!" the girls said all at the same time, smiling at him. He flashed a smile back at them as he walked away.

The girls finally piled into the carriage right before it started going up the cobblestone street. The carriage was quiet, as each girl was lost in her own thoughts. A few carriages up the line, though, the marauders were all but quiet.

"Why did you pull us away!?" Sirius groaned, glaring at Remus.

"Well for one, Amelia looked like she was about to take you out," Remus said as he pulled out his book again. Sirius growled, showing the dog inside of him. "And plus the girls seemed like they had had enough Marauders for one day."

"When has that ever stopped us before?" James asked, looking out the carriage window.

"Well, never," Remus condoned, "But I just didn't want Amelia to hurt herself. She looked like she meant business."

"Oh ho ho! Do I see a crush on the horizon!?" Sirius burst out. James and Peter smiled as they looked at Remus for confirmation.

"No," Remus said curtly, looking up from his book, "I don't have a crush on anyone. Nor can I, as you full well know. Any girl I liked would be in enormous danger, and they would be terrified of me if they found out what I am. Plus Amelia Bennett is a pureblood, so I'm sure she already hates people like me." Remus looked each boy in the eye, "You guys know how it is. So just let's just leave it be."

The carriage was silent for some time as they tried to come up with a retort. Remus looked out the window, his face completely expressionless. Finally James reached across and put his hand on Remus' shoulder, an understanding and sympathetic look on his face. It was a while before the blond turned his head to look at his friend.

"Remus, don't think like that," James said as he looked Remus in the eye, "You aren't any different than anyone else. If someone thinks there is something wrong with you, then there is something seriously wrong with them. You just have your furry little problem, and let's face it, everyone has their own problems. But you have us. We have never thought twice about our friendship with you. We wouldn't be who we are today if we hadn't met you. Your problem is a part of who you are, and we are always here to help you, every step of the way." The tone of his voice changed suddenly as he said, "And anyone who has a problem with you will have to answer to us."

"He's right," Sirius said, looking at his two friends, "You know we would never abandon you. And I know you will find someone special someday, and plenty of little flings on the way," he ended, winking at Remus.

"We're your friends," Peter squeaked, "Always."

"Marauders all!" James shouted, putting his hand out in the middle of the carriage, right as it pulled up to the castle.

Peter and Sirius put their hands on top of James, and they all looked to Remus. A smile broke out across his face as he placed his hand on top of his friend's.

"Forever," Remus whispered proudly.

**Hope you all liked this chapter! It worked out just the way I wanted it to! It made me happy to write it! Please review! It totally makes my day! Thanks for reading! I'll update soon I hope. Im going on choir tour this week, so it might be a little late, but I'll try within a week!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter. Everything but Raea, Amelia, and this storyline belong to JKR.**

"I am so tired!" Amelia groaned as she walked out of the Great Hall after the welcoming feast. Raea, Lily and Alice were following sluggishly behind. "I'm not going to make it to the tower!"

"Oh come on," Alice said, "It's not that far."

The girls started walking up the staircase, but were stopped halfway up.

"Miss Evans," a voice shouted, and Lily turned around to see Professor McGonagall standing in the entrance hall, "Miss Evans, Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office before you go to bed."

"Of course Professor," Lily said, "See you guys soon," she said to her friends.

She quickly made her way to the seventh floor and headed towards the stone gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office. Only then did she realize that she didn't know the password. She stood staring up at the gargoyle for a few minutes.

"Couldn't you just let me in?" she asked it. The statue stayed completely still and showed no sign of moving, "Ugh!" she groaned as the kicked the bottom of the gargoyle, only to be rewarded with a sharp pain in her foot.

She was still hopping around holding her foot when she heard someone quietly say, "Acid Pops."

She immediately stopped hopping and whipped around to see James Potter walking, hands in his pockets, up to the gargoyle right before it stepped to the side to reveal a spiral staircase.

"What are you doing here?" Lily asked, glaring up at him.

"I'm assuming for the same reason you're here," he said, tapping his Head Boy badge.

"Oh…right," Lily said in defeat, "How did you know the password?"

"It's really not that hard," he said sheepishly, running a hand through his hair, "I've been up here so many times, that I've noticed he always uses passwords that are candy names, and he has a pattern in the passwords he uses. The password he had at the end of last year was Cockroach Clusters, and he usually goes through one more over the summer, so his next one had to be Acid Pops."

"You are unbelievable," Lily said, a look of horror on her face.

"Only to you," James said laughing, "We actually figured his passwords out in second year." James ignored Lily's expression of complete appall and turned to the staircase.

"After you," he said, smiling as he gestured her up the stairs. She stalked up the stairs, not waiting for them to start moving, with James following bemusedly behind. She pounded on the door harder than she normally would have.

"Come in," said a soft voice.

Lily threw the door open and marched into the room. An old wizened man with a silver beard so long he could almost tuck it in his belt, sat behind the large desk. A beautiful red bird sat on a golden perch behind him.

"Well, well, well," the old man said softly, "Please take a seat Mr. Potter, Miss Evans."

Lily sat down on one of the chairs in front of the desk, and James took the other, still smiling.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts, and I must congratulate you both on becoming Head Boy and Girl." Dumbledore said, looking at them over his half moon spectacles. "I have called you here to let you know what duties you will be required to perform throughout this year. You will be over the Prefects and will be in charge of scheduling when they will patrol, who they patrol with, and where they go. Because you are Head Boy and Girl you can take house points for disobedience, and deal out detentions where you see fit. Any questions?"

"No sir," they both said.

"Good," Dumbledore said, putting his fingertips together, with a slight smile on his face. A sparkle suddenly appeared in his bright blue eyes as he continued, "You will both have to work very closely together. I have heard from many teachers that you two have had your share of disagreements, but I suggest you learn to look past them and try to get along."

Lily sat up straight, and glanced over at James. He was still sitting there grinning like a fool. She inwardly groaned as she turned her attention back to the Headmaster.

"Well, that is all. I suggest you both hurry back to your dormitories and get a good nights' sleep so you will be ready to have your heads filled with knowledge once more," Dumbledore said smiling at them, "Mr. Potter, if you will kindly wait outside for a moment, I need to have a word with Miss Evans. Then you can walk with her back to Gryffindor Tower."

"What is it, Professor?" Lily asked as soon as James closed the door.

"I can tell you have a few questions for me," Dumbledore responded, "Please feel free to speak your mind."

Even surprising herself, Lily's pent up frustration suddenly came out in a burst of passion. "Why is Potter Head Boy? He wasn't even a Prefect before! He is a troublemaker, and he has absolutely no respect for the rules!"

Dumbledore looked unsurprised at her outburst. "Mr. Potter has shown qualities that far surpass any other man that could have qualified for this position. He has also shown that he is willing to protect those weaker than him. This is a trait that I value very highly."

"Protecting others!?" Lily fumed, "Since when has he ever shown that? He plays pranks on people, he picks on people. Professor, he's a bully! Sir--"

"Miss Evans," Dumbledore said softly, silencing her immediately, "I know that you have never been good friends with Mr. Potter," Lily tried her hardest not to roll her eyes, "But I have seen he is a very dedicated person, who will fight for what he believes in. He is a loyal friend. He strives for what is right. It will be good for both of you to be working together. Please try to work with him, for the sake of the school if nothing else."

"Yes, Sir," Lily said quietly, looking at her hands.

"Thank you," the headmaster said, beaming at her, "Now run along and get some sleep. I can see you are in need of it. I always was after the welcoming feast. I still am, in fact."

Lily walked out of the Headmasters office and found James relaxing against the wall next to the door.

"Ready to head out?" he smiled, gesturing her back onto the stairs.

Lily groaned as she walked down the staircase. She could feel him walking right behind her.

"Aw, come on Lilykins, I didn't do anything," he pouted in response to her stony silence, as they set off down the corridor.

"The fact that you are walking right behind me down the corridor contradicts that," she said coldly. It was hard to remember what Professor Dumbledore had said about him when she had the living, breathing, annoying him next to her. "And the fact that you just called me Lilykins. Stop calling me that!"

"Alright," James consented, just to keep her happy. (Not that it was working, mind you.)

"Out late you two?" the portrait of the fat lady asked as they walked up.

"We had a meeting with Professor Dumbledore," James said.

"Well hurry in," the fat lady said, smiling at him, "It's past your bedtime."

She swung forward to reveal the bright crimson of the cozy Gryffindor common room. Even though it was empty, the warm fire still blazed in the corner.

Lily headed straight for the girls dormitory without a second look at James.

"Good night, Lily," James said softly, making Lily pause for a second.

"Good night, Potter," she said, turning her head slightly in his direction, but still not looking at him. She had started heading up the girls' staircase when she was stopped again.

"Will you go out with me!?" James burst suddenly.

"No!" Lily said for the millionth time, before she rushed up the stairs. James had asked her out every day while at school since fourth year.

"Well it was worth a shot," she barely heard him say before she shut her door.

**I am so sorry that I haven't updated in so long! I feel horrible about it! My life has just been so busy lately. I've had choir performances, and huge homework assignments, and I have just been so stressed. Hopefully now that the Christmas holiday is coming up I will have more time to write. I hope you all like this chapter though! Please feel free to comment! They help me write faster. Really they do! haha**

**Thanks for reading! I'll update as soon as I can!**

**-Yvonne  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Still don't own it.**

"Lily! Wake up!" Amelia shouted, throwing a pillow at her.

"Five more minutes…" Lily groaned, pulling the covers over her head.

"Never!" Amelia laughed as she jumped on top of Lily's bed.

"Why are you such a morning person, Amelia?" Raea asked, coming out of the bathroom, towel in hand, drying her hair.

"Because we're back at Hogwarts!" Amelia said loudly.

"But you hate schoolwork," Alice said, coming out behind Raea.

"Well ya, but think of the food, and the magic, and the quidditch," Amelia said, and then a devious smile came over her face, "And the boys!"

"Is there anyone particular that comes to your mind?" Alice asked giggling.

"Well of course the Marauders are looking as good as ever," Amelia said laughing, and looking over at Raea and Lily who had matching looks of disgust on their faces, "And since neither of you want them, I guess they are fair game."

"Amelia! You have better sense than that!" Lily said frowning, "Potter and Black are so—so—so…" she waved her hand around, looking for the right word, "so pig-headed!"

"Lily, its been seven years, and the best you could come up with was 'pigheaded?'" Alice said laughing.

"Those two make me so frustrated, I can't even think straight!" Lily said defensively, "Ugh! And I have to work with Potter all year!"

~*~

"I get to work with Lily all year," James said dreamily, staring off into space with a sloppy grin on his face.

"Hello? Earth to James," Sirius said, waving his hand in front of his best friends' vacant expression.

"He's hopeless," Remus said as he made his bed.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Sirius asked, gesturing to Remus' perfectly made bed, "You're just going to mess it up again tonight anyway."

"Sirius, you know I can't just leave my bed unmade! It just looks sloppy!" Remus said.

Sirius rolled his eyes and grabbed an abandoned shoe off the floor and threw it at the only still occupied bed in the room.

"Oi! Wormy, get up!" he said.

"Just leave him be," Remus said after the bed made a squeak from the shoe hitting it and then resumed snoring, "He'll figure out its morning before class starts."

"Well let's go then," Sirius said, "I need food!" He walked over to James, who was still staring into space, and smacked the back of his head, "Prongs! It's time for breakfast!"

"Oh, right!" James said, jumping to his feet. Nothing could distract a Marauder from the promise of food.

"Hey Frank," James said, looking over at the fifth boy in the room, who was quietly drawing at his bedside table, "You coming down the breakfast with us."

"Um…Sure," Frank said quietly. He had been in the same room with the Marauders since first year, but most of his friends were in Hufflepuff.

James, Remus, Sirius, and Frank walked down to the Great Hall, which was already full with students anticipating their first day of classes.

"Oh good, Raea is here already," Sirius said as they sat down. He looked over at her sitting next to Lily, Amelia, and Alice. She noticed his gaze and scowled at her eggs, while nudging Amelia, who looked up and glared at Sirius. "She is going to fall for me by next week," he said smirking.

James and Remus rolled their eyes, but didn't say anything. James looked at the group of girls, trying to catch Lily's eye, but instead he noticed Alice gazing at the person in the seat next to him. Frank was looking down as he quietly ate. He didn't notice her gaze.

James caught Remus' and Sirius' eyes, and nodded first toward Alice, who hadn't noticed him catch her, and then to Frank, who still quietly ate his breakfast. He winked to his fellow Marauders before saying, "Man, those girls are looking lovely today."

"You're right!" Sirius said, picking up on James' plan, "All four of them look hot today."

"Ya," Remus agreed, smiling, "I think Alice did something different with her hair today."

Frank twitched when Remus said Alice's name, and he seemed to be paying closer attention to their conversation.

"I think you're right," James said, then suddenly clapped Frank on the back, who jumped about a foot as James said, "Don't you think Alice did something with her hair?"

Frank looked over at Alice, who blushed and looked down when their eyes met. She had a small smile on her face.

"She looks as beautiful as always," Frank said quietly, a slight smile lighting up his face.

"You should ask her to Hogsmead," James said softly, smiling at his roommate.

"She would never go out with me," Frank replied, sighing.

"Frank, you don't give yourself as much credit as you deserve," Remus said.

"Ya," Sirius joined in, "She would be crazy not to want to go out with a guy like you."

"And Frank," James said, clapping him on the back again, "I'm pretty sure she likes you too."

**I updated faster! Im very proud of myself for writing that fast! I hope you all liked this chapter! And thank you so much to those of you who have reviewed! It gives me so much more incentive to continue writing when I know people actually like it. Please dont be afraid to review! It helps me so much!**

**-Yvonne  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I still don't own it.**

"Guys, we need to do something about that," James said as soon as Frank left the table, "The poor bloke wont ever do anything on his own without a little prompting. And Alice isn't the kind of girl to make the first move."

"Your right!" Sirius said, banging his fist on the table, which made the milk in Remus' goblet fall over into his lap, "Ah! That's cold! Get it off! GET IT OFF!"

"You big baby," Remus said, flicking his wand to clean up the mess, "But I agree with you James. Frank needs help."

"Exactly!" James said, "But how?"

The three boys sat in thought for a few minutes before Sirius was distracted by Raea walking by. She had her blond hair curled in long ringlets that framed her face perfectly. Guys all over the hall were turning to stare at her as she walked past. She wasn't paying attention to any of them though. She had almost made it past the Marauders when Sirius suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm.

"What do you want Black?" Raea spat, pulling her arm out of his hand.

"Want to go out with me?" Sirius asked, smiling up at her.

Raea rolled her eyes and looked around. As always, there was a group of girls watching him. Today it was a group of Hufflepuffs staring openly at him, trying to catch his eye. Too bad for them, he only had eyes for Raea.

"Why should I?" Raea asked, folding her arms and looking down at him.

"Because it's me," Sirius said, smirking.

"Yep. I knew it," Raea said, before turning around and starting to walk away.

"Wait, Raea!" James said suddenly.

"What is it Potter?" Raea sighed, turning around again and staring at the ceiling.

"Ignore Sirius for a sec," he said, as Sirius growled at him, "We need your help with something."

"We do?" Sirius asked, brought out of his anger by his confusion.

"Yea, I thought of a plan," James said smiling.

"Sweet!" Sirius and Remus both said, also smiling.

"What is this all about?" Raea asked, a look of apprehension on her face.

"Come sit down and I'll fill you in," James said, making room for her on the bench.

~*~

"Where is Raea? She said she would meet us in the entrance hall," Amelia said, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Maybe she's still eating," Alice suggested.

"I'll go look for her," Lily said, walking into the Great Hall, only to stop in shock at what she saw there, and walk right back out.

"What is it Lily?" Amelia asked when Lily reached them.

"I cannot believe what I just saw," Lily said, more to herself than to Alice and Amelia, "You guys won't believe what I just saw!"

"What did you see?" Alice asked.

"Raea," Lily said, still in shock.

"What about Raea?" Amelia asked.

"She was sitting with _them_," Lily said, quietly.

"Them who!?" Alice and Amelia both asked loudly.

"The _Marauders_," Lily whispered, as if it was a bad word.

"No way!" Amelia yelled.

"Are you sure?" Alice asked.

"Ya! It was her. And them. And they were talking! And she was smiling!!!" Lily said, as if was the end of the world.

"NO!" Amelia and Alice yelled together.

"How could she do this?! She hates them!" Amelia said.

"What did they do to her!?" Lily said, looking terrified that the world was turning upside down.

"Hey guys, what's wrong?" Raea asked, walking out of the Great Hall, a huge smile on her face.

"Raea! What did they do to you!?" Amelia shrieked, grabbing Raea's shoulders and shaking her.

"What did who do to me?" Raea asked, laughing.

"Them, Raea! Them!" Amelia yelled, "Why were you sitting with them!?

"Well, you guys left, and James started talking to me," Raea shrugged.

All three girls gasped.

"What did you just say?" Lily breathed.

"James started talking to me...?"

"She did! She said it!" Amelia yelled.

"You said his first name. We never call Potter or Black by their first names! It's always been like that." Alice said quietly.

Raea clapped her hand over her mouth.

"Oh my gosh! You're right! I cant believe I slipped like that!" Raea said in shock, but there was still a small smile in her eyes.

"Well we'll forgive you this time," Lily said, happy that they had finally gotten through to her.

"Thanks guys!" Raea said, laughing.

"We should start heading to class," Alice said, "We have transfiguration soon."

"So what were you talking about anyway?" Amelia asked as they started walking.

"Oh, you'll find out later," Raea said, smiling right at Alice before walking away down the hall.

**What do you think they are planning? :D**

**I hope you liked this chapter! Im sorry it took so long to get up. Life has been crazy lately, and Ive had the worst writers block. Im going to try to write faster though, so hopefully that works. Anyway, don't be afraid to leave a comment! They always make me so happy! :)**

**-Yvonne**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or its characters, obviously. haha Just Amelia and Raea are mine.**

Raea put a spell on her alarm so that it would ring at five, and she would be the only one in the dormitory to hear it. As it rang she woke quickly, and silently slipped out of bed. She had never realized how much noise she usually made in the morning until she had to do everything without making a sound. A couple times she accindentaly set a bottle down too hard and she saw Amelia rustle, but thankfully she stayed asleep the whole time.

Finally, when she decided she looked right, Raea quietly slipped out of the room. She had never been up this early the whole time she had been at Hogwarts. The stars were still shining outside, and the only hint that it was nearing morning was a slight brightness in the east above the mountains.

She was just heading for the portrait hole when a dark shape stood from one of the chairs near the fire.

"Black!" Raea gasped, hand on her heart to make sure it was still beating, "You nearly scared me half to death! What are you doing?"

"Waiting for you of course," Sirius said, smiling at her. This was the smile that had enchanted every girl at Hogwarts at some point. Every girl except the one standing across from him now. A fact that had drawn him toward her with astounding force, even though he didnt realize that was the reason.

"Wasn't I supposed to meet you in the Great Hall? Where are the other guys?" Raea asked, rolling her eyes at him.

"Oh, they're already down there. I just thought I could walk you down," he responded, smirking as he held out his arm for her.

"I don't need you to walk me down," Raea said, turning on the spot and marched out of the portrait hole and down the corridor.

"Aw, come on Raea!" Sirius pouted as he raced after her.

Raea ignored him, and tried to keep ahead of him by walking faster and faster until she was almost running. She tore down the halls, glad that she didn't meet Filch on the way. Sirius was a faster runner though, and caught up with her before she reached the Great Hall.

"Why won't you even give me a chance?" Sirius panted, as he grabbed her arm to stop her mid run.

"Why should I?" Raea asked, yanking her arm out of his grip.

"Why do you keep asking me that?" Sirius growled.

"Until you give me the right answer, I will continue to ask," Raea hissed, and then turned away from him and marched into the Great Hall.

"I so don't get her," Sirius mumbled as he followed her in.

James, Remus, and Peter were already seated in the middle of the Gryffindor table, which, much to Raea's surprise, was already laden with food.

"Raea! You made it!" James yelled when he looked up from his full plate and saw her walking in the hall, before he noticed the frown on her face, "What's wrong?"

"Black is just a pig-headed idiot," Raea fumed as she sat down next to James.

"What did he do this time? Remus asked as he cut up his eggs.

"I didn't do anything!" Sirius yelled as he plopped down next to Raea, who abruptly stood and moved to the other side of James. Sirius threw his hands up in exasperation.

"I know how you feel Padfoot," James said, trying not to laugh as he clapped Sirius on the back.

"Whatever," Raea said, rolling her eyes at the two of them, "Lets just get on with it. I don't want to spend more time with you guys than I have to."

"Ouch Raea. That's cold," James said, clutching his heart in mock outrage.

"You are such a drama queen," Raea said, finally breaking into a smile.

James smiled back at her before launching into his plan, with Sirius still skulking on his other side.

"Okay! So Raea, you need to get Alice to 'meet you' up by that picture of Barnabas the Barmy trying to train those trolls for the ballet on the seventh floor around seven tonight. Tell her to go into the door that is right across from the picture. We'll take it from there." James said, smirking at his brilliant plan.

"Wait a second," Raea said, looking confused, "There's no door across from that picture. I've passed it a million times."

"That's what you think," James said, winking at her with a huge grin plastered on his face.

"I'm still confused," Raea said, frowning. The guys all started standing, but she stayed frozen in her seat.

"Well Peter, Remus, and I need to go get Frank moving, so Sirius can show you what we are talking about. Just make sure that Alice is the only one who is going. If Amelia and Lily tag along it will just make it harder for us." James said, and they started walking away without a backwards glance.

"Shall we?" Sirius said, a smile lighting up his face. Raea had to admit that he really was good looking when he smiled like that, but that was all he had going for him. He was still way too conceited and cocky to even pluck her interest.

"Fine," Raea sighed, rolling her eyes as she stood up, "I'm too curious to be annoyed that you are the one showing me. Lets go."

They walked up to the seventh floor in silence. Sirius was so elated that he was walking down the hall next to Raea for the first time without her yelling at him, or running away, or even just ignoring his very existence, that he didn't want to mess it up by saying something that might make her mad. He couldn't stop himself from walking with a renewed bounce in his step though. Thankfully Raea didn't seem to notice.

"Just what I said. There is no door across from this picture," Raea said, pointing at the poor wizard getting clubbed by trolls in tutus.

"Just watch," Sirius said, smiling at her.

Raea watched as Sirius walked back and forth past the blank stretch of wall three times. She couldn't hold in the gasp that escaped from her lips when a door suddenly appeared. Sirius was smiling broadly as he held open the door for her and waited for her to pass him before he followed her in and shut the door.

Raea walked farther into the room. It was so big! She couldn't understand how a room this huge could fit into this part of the castle. The ceiling was as high as a cathedral with an enormous window on the far end. It was around six so the sun was just coming over the mountains. The sunrise was beautiful with bright orange and pink painting the sky. Raea ran over to the window to look outside. She couldn't help but smile back at Sirius as he walked to her. He loved the look of childlike glee that lit up her face as she looked at the landscape outside.

"Where are we?" Raea asked in awe.

"Its called the Room of Requirement," Sirius explained as he leaned up against the ledge next to her, "We discovered it in our third year. It can do anything you want. Give you anything you need."

"Its amazing!" Raea exclaimed, "So this is what you are doing for Alice and Frank?"

"Yep! This is one of the more romantic rooms we have thought of. If you just add a candle lit table," Sirius said, and suddenly a small round table appeared behind them with two long candles, already lit, with a vase of beautiful red roses between them, "And some romantic music," and the sounds of a string quartet came from thin air from somewhere above them, "It will be perfect."

"How does this work?" Raea asked softly, "Its amazing!"

"You said that already," Sirius said.

"Shut up. You're ruining the moment."

"Whatever," Sirius laughed, smiling at her. "You just have to make sure that Alice gets here by seven, and her and Frank will be together by curfew."

"You guys are really nice sometimes, you know that," Raea said, cocking her head and staring at him like she had never seen anything like him before.

"Wow, was that a compliment?" Sirius pretended like he was going to pass out.

"Don't get used to it," Raea said, punching him in the arm, "Its still going to take a lot more than this to change yourself in my eyes Black."

"As long as there is a chance I'll take it for what it is," Sirius said smirking at her.

Raea rolled her eyes at him, but couldn't wipe the smile off her face. They weren't too bad, the marauders.

**Hi guys! Im so sorry its taken so long to update. Im sure you've heard these kinds of excuses a million times, but I had the end of the school year, and I was failing classes. So I had to get my grades up so I could graduate. Thankfully I did! Horray! No more high school! And I was having the worst writers block, and I lost my notebook that Ive been writing this story in, and with all the stress and everything all combined its just taken me forever to update. But I finally updated! And I will try to get the next chapter up within the next week and so on and so forth. haha **

**Im so grateful for those of you who have commented on this story, and my other stories. You guys are the best! Please feel free to comment on this chapter, even if its to vent your annoyance that Ive taken so long to update this story. Thanks again to you readers! You are the ones that keep me going!**

**-Yvonne  
**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter**

"Raea, where have you been?" Lily asked as Raea walked into the Great Hall to where Lily, Amelia, and Alice had just sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"Oh, sorry guys," Raea said, sitting down next to Alice, "I woke up early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to take a walk around the castle. Its a totally different experience when there aren't people bustling around everywhere, you know."

"Ya, Ive done that a couple times," Alice said as she piled bacon onto her plate, "Its very peaceful."

Just then the Marauders walked into the Great Hall, and Lily noticed they seemed a little more excited than normal this morning. She was very suspicious James threw her the goofiest grin he could muster before sitting down, but then she knew something was definitely up when Sirius threw a wink at Raea and she gave him a little nod back instead of rolling her eyes at him like she usually did.

Lily chose not to mention anything right there at breakfast, because she knew Amelia would get unnecessarily hyper if she said anything. The opportunity to talk to Raea alone though, proved to be much harder than she had anticipated. She finally got a chance during the last lesson of the day, Ancient Runes, which was the only class that Raea and Lily had alone. Not even any of the Marauders had this class.

"So what is going on between you and the Marauders?" Lily asked without any preamble as soon as they took their seats.

"Nothing," Raea responded lightly, not looking at Lily.

"Don't give me that!" Lily said, "Ive been your best friend for seven years, I can tell when something is up."

"Nothing gets past you, huh?" Raea sighed, as she turned to face her friend, "Fine, but you cant tell anyone what I'm about to tell you."

"Okay, I promise," Lily said quickly, "So what is it?"

"The Marauders have devised a plan to get Alice and Frank together. We weren't the only ones who realized those two were crazy for each other," Raea laughed.

"Are you serious?" Lily asked, looking thoughtful, "And you are part of this because...?

"They needed inside help," Raea shrugged, "I may not have liked them much, but we all know Alice and Frank really need a good shove. This is all just getting ridiculous.

"And what are they going to do?" Lily asked suspiciously, "You're sure its something safe and actually nice, right?"

"Oh ya!" Raea said smiling, "Its perfect!"

"Well what is it?" Lily pushed.

"I'm sorry Lily. Black made me promise not to tell anyone about it," Raea said quickly, "Its a huge secret, and they don't want it getting out."

"Its not against the rules is it?" Lily frowned.

"No, no, no," Raea said, "Nothing like that. Please, just trust me. I can completely understand why they don't want it getting out. I will be able to tell you later, just trust me for now."

Lily still looked very uncertain, but finally sighed in defeat after seeing the sincere pleading in Raea's eyes.

"Fine, I dont know why I am going along with this, but if something happens to Alice, they arent going to know what hit them."

ooo

"Hey Alice, I want to show you something," Raea said, as she ran up to Alice who was reading under the large beech tree by the lake. The weather was beautiful, and Alice wasn't the only person who was taking advantage of the sun before fall finally set in. Raea also noticed that the sky was clear.

_Perfect for stargazing, or a nice romantic evening,_ she thought, smiling to herself as Alice looked up from her book.

"Show me what?" Alice asked.

"I cant describe it, you just have to see it," Raea said.

"Okay then," Alice started to get up.

"No, no! I have to do something right now. Just meet me in the room on the seventh floor across from the painting of Barnabas the Barmy getting clubbed by those trolls at seven," Raea said quickly.

"Wait a sec," Alice said, looking confused at these odd instructions, "You know there is no room across from that picture."

"That's what I want to show you!" Raea said smiling, "Just don't tell anyone! I want to keep it a secret 'till I get your opinion. Make sure you come alone!"

"Okay then," Alice said, still looking confused, "You are acting very odd today, you know."

"Well today has been anything but normal. I'll tell you about it later," Raea said when it looked like Alice was about to say something, "I gotta go!"

Alice watched in confusion as Raea started jogging away before turning around mid jog and called, "Don't forget its a secret! Come alone!" Then she was gone.

"What was all that about?" Camille Stewart asked, Alice's Ravenclaw Transfiguration partner who had just walked over to borrow Alice's notes and had passed Raea running away back towards the castle.

"I have no idea," Alice said.

ooo

"Sweet! Now its all ready," Raea smiled to herself as she made her way back to the common room.

"Raea!" Raea turned as she was halfway up the main stairs and saw Sirius running out of the Great Hall towards her.

"What is it Black?" Raea asked, with slightly less exasperation than she normally would.

"You cant go back up to the common room," he said smiling at her.

"And why is that?" Raea asked, folding her arms.

"Well Alice is heading back up there soon, so you cant very well be there when she is supposed to be meeting you somewhere else," he responded with a smirk on his face.

"Oh ya, right," Raea frowned.

"But you can come with me!" Sirius said, practically bouncing with excitement, "James gave me the job to go down to the kitchens and get the house elves to prepare and serve a dinner for the lovely couple."

"I guess I can do that," Raea said, thinking it out, "At least I know Alice's favorites."

"Exactly!" Sirius exclaimed, and for the second time that day, found himself walking peacefully down the corridors with none other than Raea Carnell.

**This chapter didn't end exactly how I wanted it to, but my brain just doesn't want to work today. I'm okay with how it went, and the next chapter will be much better, I promise! Thanks for reading! And please leave a review! They definitely help me get motivated to keep writing.**

**Thanks to all those who reviewed my last chapter, you guys are awesome!**

**-Yvonne  
**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter**

"Should we add like little birds or something?" James asked Remus, waving his wand in a careless manner. James, Remus, and Peter stood in the Room of Requirement pondering the scene in front of them.

"No," Remus responded, thinking, "Its not very romantic to have birds dive-bombing your dinner."

"Oh ya, that's true," James said frowning as Peter tried to stifle a laugh at the thought of birds pecking at quiet Frank.

"Hey guys!" The three boys turned away from the little table to see Sirius bursting into the room, followed, at some distance, by Raea. "We got dinner settled"

"Sweet!" James yelled, "No problems I trust?"

"Of course not!" Sirius yelled back, "Those little elves love me!"

Raea rolled her eyes at the two basically grown men who had linked arms and were skipping around in circles.

"You told Alice to come here?" Remus asked Raea, ignoring his two best friends.

"Yep," Raea smiled at Remus, "She should be here in about an hour."

"Good," Remus smiled back, "Would you approve the room for us? We cant think of anything else to add."

"I think its amazing!" Raea said, looking again in wonder at the enormous window.

"You said that already!" Sirius yelled in a sort of sing-song voice, still skipping with James.

"Shut up!" Raea yelled back, then looked back at the window, "Maybe if there was no glass, its a warm night still. And a bit of a balcony so you can see the stars better."

Raea gasped as what she suggested was suddenly there. She slowly walked onto the balcony, unaware that the boys behind her had stopped jumping around and were staring in awe at the new additions. A beautifully carved arch that almost reached the high ceiling had appeared where the window had been only seconds before. It opened into the wide balcony that was surrounded by a solid stone ledge. At the far end of the balcony a small carved bench sat at the perfect place to see all of the grounds surrounding the castle and almost the entire sky above it.

Raea felt the warm breeze on her face as she stood against the low ledge. The sun wasn't visible anymore, but the horizon over the mountains was painted in beautiful deep pink and soft orange. What little light there was reflected the bright colors across the lake. It was the most amazing sight any of them had ever seen.

"We should have invited a girl into the group ages ago," James whispered to Sirius as they stared at the sunset, "That girl has some imagination."

ooo

"Are they always this stupid?" Raea asked, looking at Remus who was sitting next to her on the balcony.

James, Sirius, and Peter were standing in the corner of the Room of Requirement by a little curtain that they had turned into a changing room to try to find the right "look" for James as the waiter for the night. The room had provided them with a whole rack of uniforms for him to try on. Sirius's barking laugh sounded through the room along with Peter's oddly squeaky one as James stepped out of the changing room with a pressed white shirt and crisp black vest. What made them laugh though was the thin, curly, french looking mustache he had charmed on to complete the outfit.

"Ya, pretty much," Remus responded, trying not to laugh himself.

"Remus, you are so different from them," Raea said, looking at Remus oddly, "I've noticed it before that they are nothing like you. They are complete idiots. Why do you hang out with these guys?"

"They were the first people who accepted me for everything that I am," Remus said quietly, looking at his hands, "They're the best friends I could ever ask for."

"Everything you are?" Raea said, confused, "What do you mean by that?"

Remus suddenly looked up at her, panic in his eyes. Raea realized he must have said more than he wanted to, though she was still confused. When their eyes met though, Raea noticed something she never had before. In his moment of panic his eyes seemed to flash the deepest brown before returning to their normal blue. The change had been so brief, Raea wasn't sure if she had imagined it or not.

"Hey guys!" Remus stood up, looking relieved as Sirius called as he walked over to them. Raea could see James and Peter behind him getting rid of the curtain and rack of uniforms. "The happy couple should be here in a few minutes, so we need to get to our places!" Sirius announced with a grin on his face as he rubbed his hands together.

"And my place is...?" Raea asked, looking around as everyone else ran back and forth making a last check on things.

"Well James is serving obviously, Remus is in charge of the food in our 'kitchen'" he nodded toward a door on the far end of the room that hadn't been there last time she looked, "Peter is going to detention with McGonagall because he, of course, forgot to do his summer transfig homework again-"

"Hey!" Peter squeaked indignantly.

"What? Its true," Sirius shrugged, then turned back to Raea, "Anyway, you and I are going to go out under the invisibility cloak and make sure that the love birds make it into this room and that the door doesn't disappear or anything. Sound good?"

"Invisibility cloak!" Raea gasped, "You guys have an invisibility cloak! Those things are incredibly rare!"

"Yea, its mine. Family heirloom and all that," James said offhandedly, walking over to them holding a cloth of silvery material that looked almost like spun water.

"Wow," was all Raea could say before Sirius grabbed her and James threw the cloak over the two of them.

"Now hurry along kids, we've got to get this show going!" James said, and he somehow managed to shove them out of the door even though they were completely invisible.

"You guys are really pushy, you know that," Raea said as Sirius caught her before she lost her balance in the hallway outside, and continued to keep his arm tightly around her waist as he looked around.

"Ya, ya. Whatever," Sirius responded, barely listening as he scoped out the corridor. Raea could see that he was entirely focused on the 'mission'.

"And of course I'm stuck out here with you of all people," she grumbled, finally managing to pull away from him. Finally Sirius looked down at her, after making sure the coast was clear, and Raea saw a small frown on his face.

"I don't get you," he stated quietly, "Every other girl in the school would give anything to be where you are now – alone – with me," he looked at her, obviously bewildered, "Why don't you like me? I'm every girls dream." He smirked as he said the last.

Raea rolled her eyes and let out a loud groan. "That's exactly what I'm talking about. Everyone may say that you are 'dripping with good looks', but from what I can tell, your personality couldn't even fill a teaspoon."

"You don't know me," Sirius whispered.

"Just like how you don't know me," Raea hissed back, then sighed, "Why do you keep going after me Black? Ive never encouraged you in any way."

"You are the hottest girl in this school. You are perfect!" Sirius exclaimed, looking her over with obvious longing in his eyes.

"Thank you," Raea responded dryly, "What else?"

Sirius looked confused. "What else is there?"

Raea looked at him up at him with pure hate and anger shining in her eyes. Sirius almost took a step back, cowering under the weight of her stare, but managed to hold his place as he stared back.

"You should write a book, Black," Raea hissed, her voice like venom, "How to offend women in less than five syllables." He held her gaze for only a few seconds longer before she turned away from him and looked down the hall. Right before she turned though, he thought he caught a look in her eyes that could only be described as absolute hurt. She looked away so quickly though, he knew he must have imagined it.

"I hear someone coming," Raea said briskly, still not looking at him, "I think its Frank."

"What did I say?" Sirius whispered, starting to get frustrated.

"If you cant figure it out on your own, then it would be pointless for me to spell it out for you," Raea spat back, "Now shut up or ou are going to blow our cover. And after this is all over, kindly leave me alone for the rest of your miserable life." Her voice broke slightly when she finished, and she refused to look at him.

Sirius stared at her, a look of complete shock and confusion passing over his face. He didn't know how to respond without making her more upset.

Suddenly Frank came walking down the corridor looking completely confused. He spotted the door and stared at it for a while, but didnt make any move to open it. He stood there for so long that Sirius finally let out a frustrated sort of growl and pulled out his wand. Frank turned quickly, a scared look on his face, when he heard Sirius' growl. His scared look suddenly turned to surprise and shock when the door flew open, seemingly of its own accord, and he was shoved from behind by invisible hands into the room, the door slamming behind him.

"Well that took way too long," Sirius chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. Raea didn't so much as acknowledge him presence there. If anyone could have seen them it would look like just two strangers who happened to be standing in the same corridor, instead of two people who had seemed like friends just hours before.

Alice appeared about a minute or so after Frank had dissappeared into the room. She was walking slowly and suspiciously down the corridor. She saw the door and approached it hesitently, looking mildly surprised it was actually there. She reached forward and grasped the door knob, turning it slowly. When she pulled it open Raea stepped forward and gave her a little shove before she could get a good look at what was on the other side. Alice tripped through the doorway and the door closed quietly behind her.

Raea silently wished her luck before throwing off the cloak and walking off down the hall back to the Common Room, completely ignoring Sirius' shouts asking her to come back.

**Thanks so much to those of you who have read my story so far, and have commented on it! You guys are the best! A special thanks to Kamai6, Vampire-luver101, and sersmom because they have commented on almost all of my chapters! You guys rock!**

**Also thanks to my sister for making me keep writing even when Ive been stressed with starting college. haha :)**

**If anyone can name the movie I borrowed a few lines from for Sirius and Raeas conversation then they get extra brownie points! I love that movie! I just had to use it!**

**Anyway, please leave a comment! It helps me write much faster! Next chapter is the date!**

**-Yvonne  
**


	10. Chapter 10

Alice gasped as she fell over the threshold and saw the ground heading toward her, when strong arms caught her and lifted her into a standing position again. She looked up in surprise to a pair of crystal clear blue eyes. Frank looked completely surprised as well, but he felt like the world had stopped. He was finally holding Alice Prewett in his arms, and she looked beautiful. Her curly brown hair was framed perfectly around her face, and her blue eyes were wide with surprise, but he could stare into them forever.

They stood there just staring at each other, Frank still holding Alice in his arms, until a small cough sounded behind them, and they jumped apart, looking around, finally seeing the actual room. James stood next to the little candle lit table dressed as a waiter and still sporting the curly mustache.

"What is going on James?" Frank asked, looking confused. Alice couldn't find her voice to ask her own questions though, because she was staring in awe at the amazing room they stood in.

"I would like to welcome you to dinner this evening," James said, bowing and gesturing them towards the table, "Please take a seat."

Alice looked hesitantly over at Frank, just as he was glancing at her. He finally offered her his arm, looking nervous. His expression changed to joy when she lightly took it, smiling shyly up at him. He led her to the table and pulled her chair out for her, and made sure she was seated comfortably before he took his own seat across from her.

"I will be your server tonight," James said, smiling down at the couple, "We already have your food prepared, and we have, from a reliable source, made sure they were all your favorites, miss," he winked at Alice who smiled back and made a mental note to thank Raea for this someday.

James disappeared through a door on the other side of the room, leaving Alice and Frank in an awkward silence. Alice was the first to break it.

"I knew they were up to something," she giggled, shaking her head in disbelief, "I just didn't think it had anything to do with me."

"I've been completely confused all day," Frank admitted quietly, "They got me out of bed this morning with matching grins. I thought they were going to pull something on me. Lupin never let me out of his sight till a few hours ago after he asked me to help him with a herbology assignment here."

"But you are okay with being here, right?" Alice asked nervously, "I mean, you don't have to be here. They aren't making you stay."

Frank let out a deep sigh, and Alice was afraid he was going to leave. She still didn't know what exactly was going on, but she wanted him to stay.

"No, I want to stay here with you," Frank said boldly, even though he was completely terrified on the inside.

"You do?" Alice asked, surprised, but a small smile was slowly lighting up her face.

Frank nodded, "You are okay staying here?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, a full smile on her face now. She was feeling happier than she had in a very long time.

Suddenly James came back into the room with two drinks on a tray. When he set the drinks down Alice felt like she could die happy right that second. They were huge glasses of a red drink, but the thing that made Alice almost die from joy was the stick of cotton candy that was propped up on the top of the glass.

"Oh my gosh!" Alice squealed so loudly that Frank jumped about a foot off his chair looking thoroughly alarmed. "I haven't had one of these in years!" she pulled off a bit of the cotton candy, closing her eyes contently as the pink sugar dissolved on her tongue.

"What is it?" Frank asked, staring curiously at his own drink.

"It's a Shirley Temple, a popular muggle drink. Though it's not usually made like this, as Alice can probably tell you," James said smiling at Alice before returning to the kitchen. "Are you ready for me to take the salad out?"

Remus looked up from where he was talking to a house elf who wore the traditional Hogwarts tea cozy, wrapped like a toga around his little body. The elf jumped when James walked in and bowed low for him.

"Nipsy has made the salads for you, Head Boy, sir," he squeaked, gesturing to the two perfectly made salads that sat on the counter top.

"Thank you Nipsy," James said, sighing, "And please, stop bowing for me every time I come in the room." Remus laughed in the background.

Nipsy nervously twisted his ears in his hands, "But Nipsy must bow, sir. You are the Head Boy. You are ranked as high as the Professors to the house elves," he squeaked.

"Oh really?" James asked, looking thoughtful.

"Don't even think about it Prongs," Remus laughed, knowing exactly where James thoughts were taking him, "Come on! Salad time!" and Remus sang, grabbing the salads off the counter and thrust them into James' arms before shoving him out the door.

oOo

"Your roommates sure are overly zealous," Alice laughed, looking up at Frank who sat next to her on the stone bench on the balcony. James and Remus had finally taken their leave as soon as Frank and Alice finished their dinner, leaving the two of them alone in the magical room. They had moved over to the bench when it got dark enough to see the stars reflecting in the lake and shining over the castle grounds.

"Tell me about it," Frank said, shaking his head, "They are all completely crazy, but they're good guys."

"Yeah they are," Alice agreed, "James is a very nice guy, I wonder why Lily still hates him so? Same with Sirius and Raea."

"Who knows," Frank said, and then he looked down at Alice, her blue eyes sparkled in the light of the stars.

"Well I'm happy they did this," Alice smiled, "I had a lot of fun tonight."

"Me too," Frank said softly, "I'm sorry that I never had the courage to ask you out earlier. I'm not as brave as James," he looked down at the lake, avoiding Alice's eyes. He muttered under his breath, "Some Gryffindor I am."

Suddenly he felt a small warm hand on his cheek, turning his face toward her. "Frank, don't say that. You are the most wonderful person I know. To me you are just as brave as James, and just as strong as Sirius, and just as smart as Remus, but you are also much more special to me," Alice said, blushing scarlet, but still staring boldly up at him.

"Alice, you are the kindest witch I know," Franks smiled, reaching down and taking her small hand in his, "You were the only one to see through my shield. You are amazing. And you look beautiful tonight," he reached up with his free hand and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

They didn't know how long they just sat there and looked into each others eyes. It could have been hours, days, months, years, they didn't care. They felt like they could stay like this forever. Hand in hand, the happiest they had ever been.

Then Alice slowly pulled his head closer to hers. His eyes flew wide, but he didn't stop her. Their lips met in a kiss as sweet as sugar, and the boy flying over them under a disillusionment charm breathed a sigh of relief.

_One down, two to go. _James thought, as he soared away into the starlit sky.

**I know, I know. I am the worst person ever, and I feel horrible! I am so sorry I haven't updated this story in months, but life has been crazy. Starting college and saying goodbye to friends and siblings has been taking a lot out of me. But I'm back now! Life has slowed down, and hopefully I will be able to write more and update faster. I haven't abandoned this story at all! So don't worry!**

**That drink I talked about up there is the most amazing drink ever! haha Ya, they really do make a drink that has a stick of cotton candy coming out the top. I got it for my birthday and it seriously made my day! They sell it at a restaurant called Spark here in Provo, UT. Best place ever for fun food. I just had to throw that drink into the story.**

**Thanks so much to all the people who have commented on this story, and my other stories. You guys are amazing and you keep me going! If nobody would have commented I would have stopped writing a long time ago. Please leave a comment on this chapter, and give me feedback on what you liked or didnt like. Or even if you just want to yell at me for taking so long to update. Anything is fine! :)**

**-Yvonne  
**


	11. Chapter 11

"What's wrong?" Lily asked when Raea burst into their dormitory and threw herself onto her four poster bed.

"Black is an idiot!" Raea groaned into her pillow. Lily thought she almost heard a sob coming from Raea.

"What happened?" Lily walked over to her friend and rubbed her soothingly on the back.

"I was helping _them_ with getting Alice and Frank together right?" Raea mumbled.

Lily nodded.

"Well Black and I were waiting outside for them to show up, and he was trying to get me to go out with him again."

"Will they never give up?" Lily said, thinking of James.

"I asked him why I should, like I always do," Raea continued, ignoring Lily's comment, "And he said why wouldn't I. I got angry at him and so I asked why he likes me. He said it was because I was the best looking girl in school. I said thanks, but what else?" Raea suddenly stopped, a sob escaping from her. She took a shaky breath before she continued, "He-he said….what else is there?" and then Raea started sobbing into her pillow.

Lily gasped, a look of rage on her face.

"He really said that?" she yelled, and Raea nodded into her pillow, still crying, "I knew he was an idiot, but I didn't think he was that dense!"

Raea kept crying, and Lily continued to rub her back soothingly. Lily looked down at the state some stupid boy had put her best friend into. Black was so dead. Suddenly a thought occurred to her.

"You like him don't you?" Lily whispered softly to her, "Or else you wouldn't be like this. That's why you always ask him why, huh?"

Raea didn't answer, but her sobs suddenly became a little harder.

"Oh Raea, I'm so sorry!" Lily said, pulling her best friend up and giving her a fierce hug. "Come on, let's go down to the kitchens. You look like you are in need of some hot chocolate with extra marshmallows."

Raea nodded, as she looked up at Lily. She gave her friend a small smile, though tears were still streaming down her face. Her best friend knew her so well. She knew exactly what would make her feel better. Lily put an arm around her and they walked out of the dormitory and into the common room.

The common room was mostly empty. The first week always wiped everyone out, so most people had gone to bed early even though curfew wasn't for another hour. As they headed to the portrait hole it suddenly opened, and the last person either of them wanted to see walked into the room.

Sirius was surprised that right inside the door stood Lily, whose arm was wrapped protectively around Raea's small shoulders. He noticed that Raea's eyes were bright red, and her face was wet with tears.

"Raea! What's wrong?" Sirius asked, looking concerned.

"Don't talk to her!" Lily spat, rage written all over her face. She pulled Raea out of the hole.

"But I want to help!" Sirius said, grabbing Raea's arm before she could get all the way out the door.

"Let go of me Black," Raea said softly, her voice shaking.

"What's wrong?" Sirius asked again, still not letting go.

Raea suddenly blew up at hearing that voice, _his_ _voice_, sound so concerned for her.

"Let go of me Black!" she screamed, and he let go of her with a yell as his hand had suddenly burned like fire. "You are a pig-headed, shallow, idiot! Just leave me alone!" and she sank to the ground, fresh sobs wracking her small frame.

Sirius looked shocked, but took a step toward her again. Lily had her wand out in a second, and Sirius was thrown across the room, banging into one of the couches by the fire. Lily put her arm around Raea again, and lifted her back to her feet. Not looking back at the crumpled form that was Sirius Black, she half carried Raea out of the room.

ooo

"That worked perfectly!" James said as he walked into the common room closely followed by Remus. They were both looking very pleased with themselves, that is until they noticed a statue that looked oddly like Sirius sitting on the couch near the fire. James rushed toward him and was relieved when he placed a hand on his shoulder to find that Sirius was in fact not actually frozen. He was staring trance-like into the fire. He didn't even acknowledge James or Remus who were both staring intently at him.

"Sirius!" James said, shaking Sirius' shoulder, "Mate, come out of it!"

Sirius looked up at James, looking entirely lost.

"Padfoot, what happened?" Remus asked, very worried for his friend.

"Raea burned me," Sirius said softly, turning his left hand over for his two friends to see. His palm was an angry red with blisters covering every inch.

"She did that?" James asked, as Remus pulled out his wand and started running it back and forth over Sirius' hand, muttering under his breath. After a couple of passes Sirius' skin began to take on a much healthier color.

"And then Lily threw me into this couch," Sirius continued, not really paying attention to the other two.

"Lily?" James asked, eyes wide, "What happened after you and Raea left the Room?"

Sirius looked back up to James, his eyes far away.

"I don't know," Sirius whispered, "I tried asking her out again, and I told her she was beautiful. She got really angry, and stormed off. I wandered around the castle for a little while, and when I came back here I ran into Lily and Raea,"

Sirius paused, looking confused still, and glanced over to the portrait hole as if Raea was still standing there.

"Raea had been crying," Sirius continued, still whispering, "Lily had her arm around her, and she was leading her out of the room. I asked what was wrong, and Lily yelled at me. I grabbed Raea's arm and asked again. She yelled at me, and my hand burned. She collapsed to the ground, and started crying again. I wanted to help, but Lily blasted me back, and then they left."

James and Remus were both quiet after Sirius finished. Neither of them really understood what had happened. The three of them sat in silence, staring at the fire, trying to figure out the mystery that is women.

ooo

A week later Remus found Amelia in the library, surrounded by stacks of books that hid her from view. He was a little surprised since he had never seen Amelia this serious about schoolwork before. That is until he walked around the table and saw her sleeping soundly using _A History of Magic_ as her pillow. Her long dark hair was covering her face. Remus thought she looked really cute when she was sleeping. He tried tip-toeing away so as not to wake her, but the tip of his robes brushed her hand as he walked around the table.

Suddenly she shot up, her wand out of her pocket and pointed at Remus, breathing hard. He looked startled at first, but after a moment he was having a hard time not laughing at the look on her face. Or the fact that her hair could ever look like that.

Remus finally couldn't hold it in any longer, and burst out laughing at the look of surprise on Amelia's face. Amelia only just realized who was laughing, and why he was laughing, and an embarrassed blush crept across her face.

"Merlin's pants Remus! You scared the heck out of me!" she said, lowering her wand and sinking back into her chair.

"Sorry," Remus said, sitting down in the chair across from her, a huge grin still on his lightly scarred face. "I just saw you with books all around and wondered what you were doing."

"I was up all night, okay?" Amelia said defensively as she started gathering up her papers just for something to do with her hands.

"How come?" Remus asked, looking concerned.

"Lily and Raea won't stop ranting, and Alice keeps going on and on about how amazing Frank is. I just can't sleep!" she sighed, and Remus could see the dark circles under her eyes that usually accompanied a few nights without sleep.

"I know how you feel," he laughed, "James and Sirius won't shut up either. They spend every night trying to think of new ways to get the girls of their dreams." He rolled his eyes.

"Not going to happen," Amelia said, shaking her head.

"What happened between Raea and Sirius?" Remus asked. Amelia looked surprised.

"Why don't you just ask him?" she asked, looking steadily at Remus.

"He told us, but from what he said I don't know why she should be acting like this." Remus was thinking of the day before when Sirius tried to talk to Raea. He had only said her name when she turned and jinxed him before running off with tears in her eyes.

"Man, guys are thick," Amelia said to herself, then looked up at Remus, "He told you everything he said?"

"Yeah, as far as I know."

"Well apparently he missed something, or you and Potter are just as thick as he is," Amelia frowned, "Though I thought you were more sensible than them."

"You tell me what happened then," Remus sighed.

ooo

"He actually said that?" James asked Remus after he finished his story. They were sitting in a corner of the common room by one of the broad windows. It was a whole day later before Remus could find a time where Sirius was not present to tell James the full story. At the moment Sirius was taking a run around the grounds to vent his frustration. Students were sure to talk for weeks swearing they saw an enormous black dog streaking by the forest.

"That's what Amelia said," Remus whispered as someone walked close by them.

"Sirius really is an idiot sometimes, huh?" James shook his head in disbelief.

"Yeah," sighed Remus. "Do you think we should tell him?"

"No way," James replied furiously, "You know he wouldn't try to understand what she really meant. He would go tell her things he doesn't believe, just because he wants a trophy." He sighed sadly, "I love that guy like a brother, but he is extremely shallow when it means the most."

James was of course drawn to thinking about Lily. He thought she was beautiful, sure, her fiery red hair that framed her face perfectly, and her bright green eyes that seemed to put him into a trance every time he looked into them. But he also knew she was smart. She excelled in all of her classes. She was kind (to everyone but him and Sirius that is), and an amazing friend from what he could tell. She was Head Girl. She was absolutely amazing. In his mind no girl could ever be as perfect as Lily Evans.

_Why can't you see that about Raea? _James thought, staring out the window at the little black spot that was a large dog running amuck around the grounds.

**Yep! I'm still here! Though I'm not going to apologize again. Anyone who's done this before realizes its really hard. I only finished with my second semester of college a month ago, and that was totally crazy. I just didn't have time to write. And when I did have time I just couldn't think of how to word everything. But here it is! I finally finished another chapter! Please review! And take my poll on my profile page! I really need input so I can figure out where I'm going with this.**

**You readers are the best! Thanks so much to those who have stuck with me since the beginning! I don't worry, I know this story is taking a while, but I won't give it up! Please review if you like it just a little bit. I see people who have favorited this story, or who subscribe to it, and that's wonderful! But I would love to actually hear from you! You readers are great!  
**

-**Yvonne**


	12. Chapter 12

"Wake up girlies!" Amelia yelled, throwing pillows at the three other beds in her room.

"It's too early!" Lily groaned, throwing the pillow back at Amelia, and hit her square in the face.

"It's only eight! And there's a Hogsmead trip today!" Amelia pouted.

"Yes, but I'm not getting up till nine," Raea said, her voice muffled because she was still wrapped tightly in her blankets with her face in her pillow.

"You guys are no fun," Amelia said, heading out of the dormitory as her three friends went back to sleep.

There were actually quite a few people in the common room despite it being so early on a Saturday morning. A few kids were standing in a circle around a couple people who were locked in a rather epic game of chess. The onlookers cheered them on as one of the black knights struggled against a white bishop. Amelia paused for a second to see the bishop beheaded by the knight's tiny sword. A great cheer went up among the black supporters as Amelia continued on her way to the portrait hole, laughing a little at the excitement of the crowd even this early in the morning.

Amelia wound her way through the castle. The corridors were quiet, the bright morning sun shining warmly through the large windows. The Great Hall had a few people at each table, those who didn't feel like sleeping in.

"Morning gents!" Amelia said, sitting down next to James, Remus sitting across from them.

"Good morning Amelia," Remus said politely, smiling at her.

"Where are the rest of the beautiful ladies you are friends with?" James asked, looking around hopefully.

"Lily is still sleeping," Amelia said, laughing.

"Oh," James looked disappointed.

"Where are your little friends?" Amelia asked, "I thought you guys always stuck together."

"Sirius said, and I quote, 'I need to get my beauty sleep!'" James rolled his eyes, "Really he just didn't want to face Raea again."

"He really is an airhead," Amelia said, scooping scrambled eggs onto her plate.

"He really does like her, he just doesn't realize why," James said wearily, "He just thinks it's because she's pretty. But deep down inside he really cares for her."

"Well until he realizes that it's going to be really uncomfortable around them," Amelia said sadly.

"How are you anyway?" Remus asked. Amelia looked up at him. She noticed he looked very tired. He had dark circles under his eyes, and looked like a slight breeze could knock him flat on his back.

"Oh, I'm good," she said, looking concerned at him, "Are you okay? You look like you're about to pass out."

"I'm fine," Remus said quietly, thinking about the full moon tomorrow, "Just a bit of a cold. I should be fine by next week."

"If you're sure," Amelia shrugged as she took a swig of pumpkin juice. She still looked at him curiously over the top of her goblet.

"So are you going to Hogsmead today?" James asked, trying to change the topic.

"Duh!" Amelia said, looking at him like he was crazy, "It's the first trip of the year, of course I'm going! I'm out of sweets!"

James had just taken a drink of hot cocoa and ended up spitting it all over the table in front of him as he let out a choked laugh, looking incredulously at Amelia. Remus was just glaring at James as he was now covered in hot cocoa.

"What?" Amelia asked innocently as James was overcome with a bout of giggles.

"You're-you-you're just going," he doubled over holding his stomach in laughter, "for sweets!" He then fell off the bench with a bump and rolled around on the floor still laughing.

Amelia picked up an apple and threw it at him. "Is he always like this?" she asked Remus, who was waving his wand to siphon off the hot chocolate that was covering his blue sweater.

"Yeah, sometimes worse," he replied.

"Well then I'm going to come sit by you. This nutter doesn't understand the importance of sweets." And with that she got up on the bench and stepped right across the top of the table before stepping down next to Remus and plopped into the seat on his right.

Remus looked thoroughly shocked. He had never seen a girl do that before. James was so surprised he had stopped laughing for a second, only to start right back up again, not only because of what Amelia had just done, but also at the look on Remus' face.

Amelia merely reached across the table for her plate and continued to eat as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

"Could you pass me the bacon, Remus?" she asked politely.

Remus automatically handed her the platter of bacon, though he still looked in shock.

"Earth to Remus?" Amelia said, waving her hand in front of his face. He jumped a little and looked down at her.

"Um…nice socks," Remus said weakly, gesturing to Amelia's knee-high orange, green, and cream striped socks he had noticed as she crossed the table.

"Oh thanks!" Amelia said brightly, "I was so happy when I found them. They go perfectly with my green skirt and orange jacket! It just pulls the whole outfit together, don't you think?"

"Amelia, I think you burned his brain out," James said, finally surfacing and sat back down still silently laughing.

"Oh well," Amelia said, wrapping some food into a napkin before standing up, "Hopefully he'll be better by the time you guys head out to Hogsmead," she patted Remus on the back as she passed him, "I'm going to try and wake the girlies up again. Maybe I'll see you gents later!"

James and Remus watched her go, shared looks of bewilderment on their faces.

"What just happened?" Remus asked, looking at James.

"I'm not really sure," James said, laughing again, "Girls are very strange creatures."

ooo

"Hey, I got you guys some breakfast!" Amelia said, walking into her room to see her friends in various stages of dress. Raea was sitting in front of the mirror already wearing a pink skirt with a yellow and green striped long sleeve shirt and was in the process of doing her hair. Lily was putting on her long green skirt, her matching green shirt sitting on her bed. Alice was just coming out of the shower wearing her warm bathrobe, a towel wrapped around her head.

"Oh, sweet! Thanks Amelia," Raea said, standing up and taking one of the rolls, having finished her hair. She had pulled it up on top of her head so that it splayed like a fan from her gathers. It only took her a few minutes and it looked amazing on her. She really was a genius with hair. She swept her bangs out of her eyes as she ate her roll.

"Guys, I don't know what to wear!" Alice said, staring hopelessly at her open trunk.

The three other girls all gathered around her peering into her trunk.

"What about this skirt?" Lily said, pulling out a skirt patterned with light green leaves and soft pink roses. "It looks brand new."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot I had that," Alice said looking at it, "But I don't have anything that goes with it."

"Oh! I know just the thing!" Raea exclaimed, running to her own trunk and began rummaging through it. They heard her shout in triumph, and then she walked back to them holding a pink cardigan in her hands that was the exact color of the roses on the skirt.

"That's perfect!" Amelia said, taking the cardigan and holding it up to the skirt.

"I'll just wear my light pink cami under it," Alice said, pulling out the cami.

"So are you going to Hogsmead with Frank?" Lily asked as Alice changed, a sly smile on her face.

"I'm going to meet him around four at the Three Broomsticks," Alice confessed, blushing, "But before then I'm with you guys."

"Hooray! Girls day!" Amelia shouted while she jumped up and down on her own bed.

"Amelia, when are you going to grow up?" Lily sighed.

"Never!" Amelia yelled, still bouncing. Then she stopped abruptly and bumped down onto her bed looking thoughtful. "How come Alice is the only one with a boyfriend? I mean, we're all seventeen, shouldn't we have at least dated somebody by now?"

"Eh, guys are stupid," Lily said, running a brush through her hair.

"I've dated some muggles from my neighborhood," Raea said, pulling on her pink heels, "But just a couple dates. I say no to the boys here because most of them don't even know me at all," she sighed, rolling her eyes.

"I want to go on a date!" Amelia said, standing up with her hands on her hips.

"With who?" Alice asked, laughing at the look of determination on Amelia's face.

"Well since you guys don't want the Marauders, I'll just take one of them!" Amelia said, her expression changing to satisfaction at the looks of surprise, and open bewilderment in Lily's case, that she met from her three friends. She marched to the door and headed down the stairs.

As the shock wore off the girls ran after her. They had to see this. They hid in the staircase and peaked around the corner. Sirius, James, and Remus were sitting on the couches near the fire with their heads together, apparently planning something. They watched as Amelia marched up to them.

"So! Which one of you lucky gents is going to take me to Hogsmead?" Amelia demanded, hands on her hips, staring down at them.

Three looks of complete surprise stared back at her.

**Haha, this is going to be fun! Who do you think should take her? I can think of situations for all three of them, so I cant decide. I guess you guys will just have to pick. I'll have her go with whoever you all want most! Please comment and let me know who you want! :)**

**Thanks for those of you who are here for me! You guys make me want to keep going! Those of you who comment really make my day! Thanks for your feedback! I'll post the next chapter as soon as I can!**

-**Yvonne**


	13. Chapter 13

**Yep, I finally posted a chapter. And its a long one! I'm almost done with the next one too. Hopefully I'll be able to find more time to write now that Fall semester is over. :)**

James, Sirius, and Remus all stared up at her in disbelief. Where had this come from? Sirius was the first one to recover and he promptly elbowed James in the side. They both exchanged a mischievous look before jumping up and grabbing Remus from both sides. Remus didn't understand what was going on, but suddenly he was flying at Amelia and his two best friends were laughing like maniacs as they tore out through the portrait hole.

Remus looked up at Amelia from the place he had crashed on the carpet after his flight. She had a surprised yet happy smile on her face.

"Sweet!" she said, grabbing his hand and dragging him off towards the portrait hole, "You're coming with me!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Remus yelled, stopping in his tracks, though not letting go of her hand.

"What?" Amelia turned back to him sadly, afraid that he might say he didn't want to go with her.

"I don't have my jacket," he replied with a small smile.

"Well then go get it slow-poke!" Amelia laughed, pushing him towards the boy's dormitory.

As soon as he was out of hearing Raea, Alice, and Lily shot down the girl's staircase laughing their heads off.

"That was the funniest thing I have ever seen!" Raea laughed, wiping tears from her eyes from holding back her laughter for so long.

"The look on their faces was priceless!" Lily said, "You should have warned us that you were going to do this! I would have grabbed my camera!"

"Well it was all very sper of the moment," Amelia shrugged, smiling widely at her friends, "But I'm happy I did it."

"At least you got the sensible one," Lily laughed, "Can you imagine going on a date with Potter? Ugh!"

"Lily, only you think that," Alice remarked poking Lily in the side.

"Still!" Lily countered, as if that was a good enough response. Her three friends burst out laughing again.

Suddenly they heard a slight cough behind them. Remus had come back down the stairs silently, and none of them had noticed till now. The girls shared surprised looks, as they stared open-mouthed at him.

"Um…Remus, could we have a little word with Amelia really fast?" Raea asked quickly to break the awkward silence that had formed. Remus nodded, a little smile playing on his mouth. Alice and Lily grabbed Amelia's hands and started pulling her toward the girl's dormitory.

"Stay!" Amelia called over her shoulder to Remus, giving him a big smile. He laughed silently as Amelia disappeared through the door.

"How much of that do you think he heard?" Alice asked as soon as they closed the door.

"Oh who cares," Raea said dismissively, "That's not what matters right now."

"Exactly!" Lily responded, "The real question is, when did Remus suddenly become so handsome!"

"I never noticed how blue his eyes were till now!" Raea said, "But that jacket really makes his eyes pop!"

"Amelia, don't you have anything to add?" Alice asked, looking over at her friend who seemed to be staring at the closed door.

"Huh? Oh, no," Amelia answered distractedly.

"Oh, let's just let her go. She's completely taken by that handsome gentleman waiting outside for her," Raea winked, nudging Amelia.

They all rushed back into the common room. Remus was standing in the exact same spot they had left him, looking amused at what was going on.

"Well, have fun guys!" Raea called, pulling Lily and Alice, who were waving enthusiastically, with her out of the portrait hole.

"Shall we go?" Remus asked, gesturing towards the hole.

"Sure!" Amelia smiled.

Soon they were walking down the long path from the school to the quaint village of Hogsmead. The leaves on the trees were all reflecting in the autumn sunlight, showing off their bright reds and golds. A slight breeze floated past them as they walked, thankfully not very coldly. Remus had his hands in the pockets of his long jacket as he walked. Amelia noticed this, and slipped her arm through his. He looked down at her curiously. She merely shrugged, and smiled at him.

"So where do you want to go first?" Remus asked when they finally reached Hogsmead.

"Honeydukes!" Amelia shouted, grabbing Remus' hand and towing him into the sweet shop.

He laughed at the look of childlike glee that came upon her face as soon as they entered the store. It was wall to wall sweets, in any flavor you could think of. He thought she looked really cute when she was this excited.

"What's your favorite sweet Remus?" Amelia asked as she snatched a basket and began loading it with all kinds of candy.

"That's easy. Chocolate," he answered promptly, smiling.

"Well then this one's yours!" Amelia said, placing a large bar of Honeydukes best chocolate into her basket.

"Oh no, you are not buying me chocolate," Remus said quickly, frowning a little, "You shouldn't even have to pay for anything. We are on a date, and I was always taught not to let a girl pay on a date."

"Well too bad!" she answered, pulling her basket away before he could take the bar out, "I'm the one who dragged you out here with me, so I'm getting you chocolate. Plus, you weren't feeling well this morning, and chocolate always makes me feel better. And there is no way I'm letting you pay for my excessive sweet addiction. I don't want to bankrupt you," she ended her rant laughing, "You can pay for the butterbeer's later, okay?"

Remus looked surprised at her little outburst, but burst out laughing anyway. "Alright, alright, I give in," he smiled at her, shaking his head in disbelief. He had never met a girl quite like her. She was so straightforward with everything she said and did, and he loved how he could always see a smile in her violet eyes.

_How would she react…_he mentally shook himself. Today was supposed to be happy, and he was determined not to make himself depressed. A relationship would never work of course, but he didn't have to think about that today. Today was all about now, and right now he was on a date with a beautiful girl. Who cares if he turns into a horrible monster tomorrow? He wouldn't even think about tomorrow.

"Where do you want to go now?" Amelia asked, pulling Remus from his internal struggles.

"I don't know, you pick," Remus said, smiling at her.

"Want to go up to the Shrieking Shack?" she asked.

"No!" Remus almost shouted looking like someone punched him in the stomach. _So much for not thinking about it._

"Are you okay? You look really pale," Amelia asked, concerned. She reached up and placed her hand on his cheek to turn his face towards hers. His eyes seemed darker, almost navy instead of his normal sky blue, and he was breathing harder than he should have been.

He closed his eyes for a moment. The feeling of her hand on his cheek was wonderful. He had never felt anything like it. He took a deep breath to calm himself before opening his eyes. Amelia was relieved to see his gorgeous sky blue eyes again. He reached up and put his hand over hers on his cheek, a small smile on his lips.

"I'm okay," Remus said softly.

"Just okay?" Amelia asked, staring intently into his face.

"Let me rephrase," he smiled down at her, "I've never been better."

"Good," Amelia said, the smile returning to her eyes.

Remus pulled her hand off his cheek, but kept ahold of it. "Let's go get those butterbeers."

ooo

"Man! I totally thought they were going to kiss right then!" Sirius complained as he and James watched Remus and Amelia walk hand in hand towards the Three Broomsticks. Peter was sitting on the ground next to them, not paying attention to their stalking, but simply enjoying the sweets he picked up before they started their "quest" as Sirius had dubbed it.

"I know! They were so close!" James sighed, "I wish there was a way to hear what they were saying. I wonder why he looked like he had been shot."

"We'll just have to keep following them!" Sirius said, a determined look on his face.

"Did you notice we're not the only ones who look a little frustrated?" James laughed, nodding his head toward the alleyway across from them where they could see Raea and Lily bickering with each other, and Alice right behind them constantly checking her watch while chiming into the conversation every once and a while.

Sirius looked over, and his barking laugh sounded across the street. All three girls looked up in surprise. The boys walked over to meet them, ignoring the annoyed looks they were receiving.

"How's it going ladies?" James asked, grinning at them.

"I should have guessed you guys would be around here too," Lily groaned.

"Hey, we're not going to leave our brother to fend for himself on his first date!" Sirius said protectively.

"Shut up Padfoot!" James hissed, punching Sirius on the arm. Sirius had the grace to look a little ashamed, but the damage was already done.

"Remus has never been on a date before!" Lily exclaimed, almost yelling in her surprise.

"Shhhh!" all three boys cried, waving their hands like crazy.

"Sorry…," Lily whispered, looking affronted.

"Remus lives in the country, and there are no girls his age that live around him," James quietly explained, "And he's always studying here at school, and he's never really liked a girl before, so yeah…," he finished lamely.

"Well that's interesting," Raea remarked softly.

"And Remus wasn't feeling very good today, so we wanted to keep an eye on him just in case," Sirius added, the worried look on his face was mirrored on the faces of his two other friends. They all knew how weak and on edge Remus could be right before a transformation.

"That's very sweet of you to be concerned for your friend," Alice said, smiling at them. She was much more open to them now because of what they did for her and Frank, "Well I need to go meet Frank at the Three Broomsticks, which is where Remus and Amelia just went. I figure since we all seem to have the same goal we might as well walk over there together."

James and Sirius' faces lit up at the prospect of walking through Hogsmead with the two girls across from them despite the girl's obvious displeasure. Raea and Lily both groaned and began stalking off down the street. About a second passed before James and Sirius exchanged a grin and ran after them laughing like idiots.

"Will they ever grow up?" Alice asked Peter who was walking beside her as they followed their friends.

Peter stifled a laugh behind his hand. "I doubt it," he said.

"At least they are rather charming when they try," Alice laughed with him, "I honestly think it's only a matter of time before those girls give in."

"I hope so," Peter said, smiling crookedly, "Then I might actually be able to get some peace and quiet."

Alice laughed at his comment. She could completely understand. Lily and Raea had spent many a night griping about their stalker-esc admirers. "Who do you think will be first?" she asked him, "Raea and Sirius, or Lily and James?"

Peter thought this over for a minute. "Sirius," he stated certainly, "He's much less patient."

"I think you might be right," Alice giggled, "Though James has been at it much longer, and he has more of a brain in that head of his than Sirius."

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Peter laughed.

"How about we make a bet?" Alice devised, "Three galleons and a butterbeer to whoever wins. If James and Lily get together first then I win. If it's Sirius and Raea then you win. Deal?"

"You're on!" Peter smirked, holding out his hand for her to shake.

"And no specifically helping them along for this. Let's just see what happens naturally," Alice said, shaking his hand.

"Sounds good," Peter said.

"What sounds good?" Sirius asked suddenly. Alice and Peter hadn't noticed that they had finally caught up with their friends and were now standing outside the Three Broomsticks.

"Oh, nothing," they both said at the same time then burst out laughing.

"Okay then, crazies…" Raea mumbled, which only made Alice and Peter laugh more.

"Hey there Alice," Frank said, walking up to the little group in front of the Inn, "What's so funny?"

"Frank!" Alice shrieked, running to him and attacking him with a hug.

"We're still trying to figure out why they are laughing," Lily chimed in, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, don't worry about it guys," Alice said, turning around in Franks arms so she faced everyone else, "It doesn't really affect you at all." Peter tried to stifle another squeaking laugh as she said this.

"Okay, whatever," James said, looking at them like they were crazy, "What are we going to do now about Amelia and Remus?"

"How about Frank and I go in and see how it's going with them?" Alice responded, pulling out of Franks embrace and grabbing his hand instead.

"No! That would blow our cover!" Sirius cried.

"No it wouldn't, Amelia already knows that I was going to meet Frank here anyway," Alice reminded him, rolling her eyes.

"Oh yeah…." Sirius mumbled as James smacked the back of his head.

"Duh Padfoot," James laughed, "Use that brain I know is in there somewhere."

The whole group laughed, even the two girls who weren't very happy with their current proximity to certain people. Frank still looked slightly confused, but he happily followed Alice into the Three Broomsticks. They found Amelia and Remus sitting in a cozy corner sipping their butterbeer as the talked softly.

"Hey guys!" Alice said, walking over to them while Frank went to buy their drinks, "How's it going?"

"Alice! Amelia shouted, grinning hugely at her.

"Hello Alice, Frank," Remus greeted as Frank walked up with two butterbeers, "Why don't you join us?"

"Alright," Frank responded softly, pulling out a chair for Alice before taking a seat.

"So how has your guys' day been going?" Alice asked taking a sip of her butterbeer. From where she was sitting she could see the front window where her five friends were practically pressing their faces against the glass to see what was going on. She held back a giggle. Thank goodness Remus and Amelia were sitting with their backs to the window.

"It's been awesome!" Amelia exclaimed, practically bouncing in her seat with excitement.

"You got your sweets, didn't you?" Alice laughed knowingly. She was very used to this side of Amelia by now.

"A whole basket-full," Remus chuckled, smiling at Amelia.

"I'm glad to hear some things never change," Alice smiled.

"How about you guys?" Amelia asked, "How's your day?"

"Well we just met up," Frank said, "But we were planning on doing a little shopping after this. I need some more quills and ink."

"And I need some more potions ingredients," Alice added.

"Sounds productive," Remus commented.

"Hey, where are Lily and Raea?" Amelia asked, looking around as if expecting them to jump out from behind the next booth over.

"Oh, I think they're just wandering around town," Alice said, smiling.

**Who will win the bet? haha**

**So I posted a link to my website on my profile page. You can see what every ones outfits look like. I'll be posting some more stuff about Hearts Knit Together there, and things for my other stories****, so go check it out!**

**And Huzzah! The semester is finally over! College really takes a lot out of you. :P**

**-Yvonne**


	14. Chapter 14

"I guess we should probably just leave them to it, huh?" Lily said, as they watched their friends chat through the window.

"Yeah, probably," Raea agreed, turning away from the window toward the group with her, "You guys too. You'll just get in their way."

"But-but-but," Sirius spluttered, "Remus isn't feeling well! We have to watch over him!"

"Calm down Black, Remus isn't going to keel over," Lily laughed, "I'm sure he'll be fine."

"I think they're right mate," James said softly, putting a reassuring hand on Sirius' shoulder, "We need to have more faith in him. He's gotten really strong. Moony needs this time to help him realize he's not what he thinks."

"I guess you're right," Sirius sighed. His instincts to protect his friend were battling with his hoping this would help Remus to grow stronger.

"Well we need to go over to Quincy's," Lily said to Raea, referring to the one store in Hogsmead that sold Muggle clothes. It was owned by muggleborn Adrian Quincy, who decided that the wizarding world needed some serious help in the "fitting in with Muggles" department. "We need to find dresses for Petunias wedding."

"Oh yeah, that's over Christmas holiday, right?" Raea asked.

"Yep!"

"Oh oh oh! James exclaimed, jumping up and down with his hand in the air.

"Yes?" Lily asked, frowning.

"First, who is Petunia?" he asked curiously.

"My sister," Lily responded.

"Oh, okay," he smiled, "Second, can we come with you?"

Sirius' eyes lit up as he looked over at Raea and Lily. "Please?" he begged.

Raea and Lily exchanged an apprehensive look.

"We promise not to be a bother, and not to annoy you, and if we do annoy you we'll leave," James promised with a pleading look, "Plus, we don't have anything else to do."

Raea sighed. Part of her was still mad at Sirius, but another part really wanted to be close to him. "Fine, but only as long as you promise to give constructive comments, and not to joke around."

"We promise!" James and Sirius exclaimed, huge smiles on their faces.

"Do you want to come Pettigrew?" Lily asked, looking at Peter who was standing off to the side still eating his sweets.

"Naw, I'm no help when it comes to clothes," he responded smiling. He could see this might turn out two ways. One, the four of them might get along. Or two, they'll hate each other even more. He thought of his bet with Alice. _I'll just wait to see how everything turns out, no need to follow along like a puppy, _he thought, "I think I'm going to go back up to the castle and find some lunch."

"You and your food," Sirius laughed, clapping him on the back, "See you later Wormtail!"

They all watched as Peter walked back up the path towards the school.

"Well then, shall we ladies?" James asked, gesturing up the road.

Raea and Lily rolled their eyes and started walking towards the store. Surprisingly, James and Sirius remained quiet as they followed behind the girls. They didn't want to mess this up. When they finally made it to the store James made sure to run ahead so he could open the door for them. Lily looked a little surprised at this, but Raea just thanked him softly and walked into the store.

Raea and Lily didn't waste any time as they walked toward the back where all the dresses were.

"Alright, you look on that side, and I'll look on this side," Lily said to Raea, and within minutes they were attacking the racks.

James and Sirius stood off to the side, watching in surprise at how focused these girls could be. As they watched, a woman who looked around thirty five came up to them dressed in jeans and a Journey tee shirt.

"Raea! Lily! It's great to see you two again!" the woman called to the two girls buried in dresses.

"Adrian!" they both called, rushing over to give her a hug.

"What are you girls looking for this time?" Adrian asked, looking at their arms full of dresses, "I've missed you two! You are my best customers."

"My sister Petunia is getting married in December, so Raea and I need normal dresses for it," Lily explained, and then she laughed, "We decided to wait till we got here since you always have a much better selection than any store in London."

"Why I'm flattered!" Adrian laughed, then she noticed the two boys standing off to the side, "And who are these blokes?"

"James Potter ma'am," James said, holding out his hand to shake hers, "And this is my mate Sirius Black."

Adrian's eyes narrowed. "So you're Potter and Black?" she frowned, "You're the ones who have been bothering these girls all these years. You know I have a right mind to chuck you both out of my store."

James and Sirius exchanged frightened looks.

"Don't worry about it Adrian," Raea sighed, "We told them they could come. Their mate Remus is on a date with Amelia right now."

"Is that so?" Adrian asked, and then she glared at the boys, "Well I'll be keeping an eye on you two. And girls, if you need any help, just call me. I'll be right up front."

"Thanks Adrian!" Lily smiled, and Adrian walked back up to the front of the store.

"Lily, I think this one would look great on you!" Raea said, pulling a maroon dress off the rack.

"I agree," James chimed in softly.

Lily threw him a look but took the dress from Raea. Now with their arms fully laden with dresses, the girls made their way to the dressing rooms. Sirius and James followed along behind them and sat down on the chairs outside of the dressing rooms. Lily and Raea both put on their first dresses and walked out to get each other's opinions.

Lily was wearing a forest green dress that looked great with her hair but-

"I don't think it really fits you right," Raea said, looking at Lily.

"Yeah, it doesn't really flatter your figure at all," James added softly from the corner.

Lily glared at him by reflex, but then sighed in defeat. "I suppose you're both right. Your dress looks good though Raea."

Raea was wearing a knee length black dress. It was a little off the shoulders and the underside of the fabric was bright red, so while walking you could see a flash of red every once and a while.

"Yeah, you look sexy and sophisticated all at the same time!" Sirius exclaimed with a huge grin.

"I don't think I need to look sexy for a wedding," Raea rolled her eyes at him, "Plus black feels a little dark for a wedding, don't you think?"

James suddenly clapped his hand over Sirius' mouth before he could make a stupid comment and get them kicked out for annoying the girls. "Yeah, I don't think it's a good color for this occasion," he said, shaking his head, "It does look nice on you though."

"Thank you," Raea said, giving him a slight smile before returning to the dressing room.

"Why did you do that?" Sirius hissed to James as soon as both the girls were behind closed doors.

"Because you were going to make a comment about the black thing!" James hissed back.

"So! And why did she smile at you and not at me!" Sirius whispered, looking distraught.

"Because you always make comments that girls like Raea don't care to hear," James said softly, "They want something that sounds sincere."

"But she did look sexy!" Sirius insisted.

"But that's a comment that you use with lots of girls. And Raea knows it," James continued, "You need to say something that sounds like you actually thought about it and that you really are seeing her."

"I do see her," Sirius mumbled to himself, though James could hear him, but he couldn't say anything because the girls walked out of the rooms again.

Raea was wearing a red dress that sparkled a little when she moved. Lily had on a red dress too, but as soon as she looked into the mirror she walked right back into the dressing room.

"I look like a catsup bottle," she shouted from behind the door. James and Sirius were silently laughing behind their hands while Raea stood there awkwardly.

"You look pretty though," Sirius offered between laughs.

"Yeah, it fits okay, but I think I look like a fire truck," Raea said looking at herself in the mirror. The silence behind her made her turn around. The two boys were looking confused. "You two have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

They both shook their heads.

Raea turned back into the dressing room, shaking her head in amusement while mumbling "Purebloods" as she laughed.

"What's a fire truck?" Sirius whispered to James.

James shrugged. "You know, it probably would have been a good idea for us to have taken muggle studies, seeing as the girls we like are muggleborns."

"But divination seemed more entertaining at the time," Sirius laughed, "You're right though, muggle studies would have helped."

"Oh well, too late now," James whispered as the girls walked out again.

They continued on like this for over an hour, and the guys never seemed to get bored of it, much to the girls surprise. They offered polite comments for each dress the girls modeled, and never made any annoying jokes.

Lily finally walked out in the maroon dress that Raea had picked. It was sleeveless and fell to her knees, with a matching long sleeved shrug that had a soft fur trim around the edges.

"Wow Lily! I knew that would look great on you!" Raea exclaimed. She was wearing a green dress that she didn't much care for.

"You look stunning Lily," James said softly, which made Lily blush slightly, but she determinedly did not turn to face him, and continued staring into the mirror.

"Yeah, I think I really like this one," Lily said, still not looking at James, "It's really soft too. I think I'm getting this one."

"Ugh, I still need to find one," Raea groaned, "There's just nothing that screams me."

"Well you have a few more here," Lily said looking into Raea's dressing room, "I'm sure there's something."

Raea paraded out in a few more dresses as Lily took a seat by the boys to give comments. Finally she came out in a flowing white dress that went almost to her ankles with cap sleeves.

"That looks gorgeous!" Lily exclaimed, standing up to walk around Raea and see every part of the dress.

"It really does look nice," James commented, smiling at her.

"If you let down your hair you would look like an angel," Sirius said softly from the corner, looking at her in awe. Lily, James, and Raea all looked at him in surprise to see if he was joking, but he looked completely serious (no pun intended). Raea's cheeks blushed a soft pink, and a small smile graced her lips.

"Thank you," she replied softly. James and Lily were sitting on the edge of their chairs like Raea and Sirius were the most captivating show they'd ever seen. "But I can't wear this to the wedding."

"Why not?" all three of them asked at the same time.

"I think white is reserved for the bride," Raea reminded them.

"Oh! I have an idea!" Lily said, and ran over to the front of the store. She came back carrying a yellow cardigan with three-quarter sleeves. "Here, put this on with it."

"Yes! Yellow!" Raea exclaimed, putting on the cardigan, "I love it!"

"Is yellow your favorite color?" Sirius asked softly.

"Yep, has been since I was old enough to pick a favorite color," Raea said while looking in the mirror, "So you don't think this is too white?"

"No, you'll be sitting most of the time anyway," Lily said, picking up her dress and purse, "Nobody will notice. Plus, we're not going to spend much time right next to Petunia."

"True. Okay, I'm getting this one," Raea said before walking into the dressing room again.

"So you found everything all right?" Adrian asked when they took the dresses up to the front desk.

"Yep! You always have what we need Adrian," Lily smiled as she handed her her dress.

"And I don't need to kick these blokes out?" Adrian asked, looking sideways at the boys who were standing over by the door as she took Raea's dress from her.

"Naw, they were surprisingly well behaved," Lily said, shaking her head in disbelief.

"It was strange," Raea agreed, though she was still blushing a little with that small smile.

"Well its ten galleons for you Lily, and twenty galleons for you Raea," Adrian said, placing the dresses into bags for them.

"Just let me Lily," Raea said as Lily started digging around her purse for the right amount.

"Raea, you don't need to pay for me," Lily said, shaking her head.

"I don't need to, no. But I want to," Raea said, handing Adrian thirty galleons, "Just call it part of your Christmas present."

"Goodness Raea, what am I going to do with you?" Lily grumbled, taking her dress.

"Keep me I hope!" Raea laughed, "Come on, I want a butterbeer!"

"May I carry your bags?" Sirius asked politely, smiling at Raea and Lily. They exchanged a look.

"Only if you promise not to kill them," Raea said, pointing her finger right at his nose.

"On my honor as a gentleman I promise not to kill them," Sirius said gallantly, placing his right hand over his heart, while he was trying not to bust up laughing. The girls handed over their dresses and James held the door open for them as they left the store.

"Hey look, there are Amelia and Remus," Lily said, waving at Amelia who was standing next to a lamppost outside Honeydukes hand in hand with Remus. Amelia waved back a second before the lamppost exploded.

"AMELIA!"

* * *

**I'm terrible right? haha Just have to leave you on a cliffhanger. My finals are coming up, so the next chapter will have to wait till they're over! Sorry! But I'll do it as soon as I can!**

**I'm also super sad when people disable their private messages. I can't thank them when they give me a review. So here's to those people! Thanks so much for the reviews! **

**Please let me know if you like this chapter, or what you want to see more of! **

**-Yvonne**


	15. Chapter 15

There was rubble everywhere. It seemed that the explosion blew part of the cobblestones out of the road. Someone was screaming, but the air was so full of dust that they couldn't see who. Sirius thrust the dresses back into Raea's arms and ran full speed toward where he knew his best friend was, James following right behind him. Lily and Raea felt so frightened, they were rooted to the spot, unable to move even a step.

Suddenly a voice yelled through the dust, "Lily, Raea, we need some help!" It was James, and Lily could feel herself being drawn to his voice, but not really taking in her surroundings as she moved toward him. Raea was walking right in front of her, and she looked like she was in better control of herself than Lily was.

As they walked closer they began to see some shapes come through the dust. Three men were kneeling on the ground around something. When they got closer, one of the men looked up.

"Raea, Lily," Sirius said, standing up to go to them, "Hurry, Amelia needs help!"

They ran forward, and found that the thing the boys were kneeling around was Amelia. She had a gash on her forehead that was bleeding freely. James had ripped off part of his shirt and was pressing it to the gash to try to slow the blood. One of her arms was bent at an odd angle, and there were cuts all over her body.

"I didn't have time to pull her away," Remus was saying as he shook like a leaf. He was looking slightly deranged, "It was so sudden, there was nothing I could do. I think a piece of lamppost flew at her head. Amelia! Amelia!" Tears were pouring down his cheeks as he grasped her uninjured hand.

"Remus, it's not your fault," James said, placing his hand on Remus' shoulder, "Nobody could have predicted that. But we need to get her up to the hospital wing."

For the first time Lily noticed the flurry of movement surrounding them. Teachers were appearing all around them, wands drawn. There were more students on the ground that she hadn't noticed before. None of them looked as serious as Amelia. They were all much farther away from the blast.

"Potter! Evans!" Professor McGonagall shouted, coming toward them, "Oh dear! Is that Miss Bennett?"

"Yes ma'am," James said, standing up to face his professor, "She's hurt pretty bad."

"She needs to see Madam Pomfrey immediately," Professor McGonagall said, "Black can bring her up. I need your help here Potter. And you too Evans." She looked back down at the group on the ground, "You need hospital too Mr. Lupin. I don't like that cut on your leg."

"Okay, I'll take her up," Sirius said, gently lifting Amelia into his arms. He was careful not to jostle her too much. Remus stayed on the ground, looking lost.

"Come on Remus," Raea said, putting her arm around him and helping him up on his injured leg. She pulled his arm around her shoulders and put hers around his waist to help him walk as they followed Sirius back up to the castle.

"Are you alright Lily?" James asked softly, moving closer to her as he placed a hand hesitantly on her shoulder.

Lily looked up at him, still feeling like this was a bad dream, wishing she could just wake up and forget it all. She noticed, as he gazed down at her, that his hazel eyes had small flecks of gold in them. She had never noticed that before. She took a deep breath and grabbed her wand out of her pocket.

"I'm okay," Lily whispered.

"Potter! Evans!" Lily and James ran over to Professor McGonagall who was standing next to Professor Sprout, examining the remains of the lamppost. "Professor Dumbledore will want to speak with both of you after this is all sorted out. But for the moment we need to help the students here. Some of them are injured in some way, others are merely frightened. Please help them as best you can, and shepherd them all back to the castle. There are still more students in Hogsmead, but we asked all the shopkeepers to keep the students inside. If you could go to the shops and call everyone back to Hogwarts that would help a lot."

"Of course Professor," James said at once, "Lily, let's start over there. Looks like there might be some nasty cuts on those fourth years."

Lily followed James as they went to each student that was huddled on the ground around them. James was quick to assess who needed the most attention, and was able to heal them in a matter of minutes. Lily was amazed at the man who kneeled in front of her, comforting a crying third year. This was not the same boy she had known for all these years.

"How do you know how to heal so well?" Lily asked James after they had sent the last student on the street back to Hogwarts.

James hesitated for a moment. "Well with all the pranks and stuff we've done over the years, it's a lot nicer to be able to heal ourselves when we mess up, instead of going to the hospital wing every time."

"I suppose so," Lily said, looking at him strangely. They walked into Honeydukes, which was full of worried students.

"What's going on out there?"

"Is everyone alright?"

"Who did it?"

"Quiet! Everyone!" James said loudly, raising his hand to stop the flow of questions he was being badgered with, "You all saw what happened I am sure. Now everyone needs to go back to Hogwarts. This trip to Hogsmead is over. We don't have any information for you at the moment, but I'm sure everything will be explained back at school. Now if we could all head back in an orderly manner, things would go much smoother."

Silence followed his announcement. Lily was amazed at the command in his voice, and even more amazed when everyone filed quietly out the door toward the castle. She realized that James was respected, in all of the houses. Even, if a little begrudgingly, in Slytherin. He was someone who could take command of any situation, and people would follow him without question.

Lily and James were the last students to leave Hogsmead. It was early evening, and the wind had picked up a little, leaving it cool and quiet as they walked up the path. Hogwarts castle loomed above them, twinkling lights in every window. It still felt surreal to Lily. The only thing still holding her there was the boy who walked beside her. He was like a rock in this ocean of confusion.

They both walked unconsciously to the Hospital wing. It was quiet. All of the people with minor injuries had been taken care of already. Only a few people remained inside, most of them surrounding a bed at the end of the ward.

"Lily!" Raea called, and she ran over to give her a hug.

"How is she doing?" Lily asked when Raea released her.

"Not too good," Alice said softly, holding tightly to Frank's hand, "She hasn't woken up yet."

"Madam Pomfrey was able to heal her arm well enough," Sirius added. He was sitting next to Remus, who had his head in his hands. "But the hit to her head is a lot harder to fix. The head is a very delicate thing, and she got hit pretty hard."

"Madam Pomfrey says that if she doesn't wake up in the next twenty-four hours they'll have to send her to St. Mungos." Raea said, looking like she was on the verge of tears.

"Oh Amelia," Lily moaned, walking over to Amelia's bed and stroking the hair away from her closed eyes, "Why can't you ever do anything halfway? Why do you always have to get the best or the worst of everything?"

The group sat around her for what felt like hours. No movement at all coming from her, they could barely see her breathe. The silence of the ward felt like it was pressing on their ears. Lily almost felt like screaming just to break the silence.

Suddenly the door opened at the other end of the ward, and the whole group looked up. Professor Dumbledore walked down the ward with his long strides, his midnight blue robes billowing behind him. He walked right to Amelia's bed, the twinkle in his eyes somewhat dim.

"It's a terrible crime to attack children," he said softly, "It hurts my heart to see my pupils in so much pain."

"Do you know who did it, Professor?" James asked, standing up.

"Oh yes," Dumbledore sighed, looking like he had aged ten more years.

"Can you tell us?" Sirius asked, staring intently at him.

"I was going to tell the Head Boy and Girl first, but I think you are all trustworthy," Dumbledore said softly. He waved his wand and conjured a chair for himself, sitting down beside Raea. "I have not informed the rest of the school yet. I am afraid this will frighten them."

"What is it, Professor?" Raea asked.

"That attack was made under the direction of Lord Voldemort," Dumbledore said without any preamble.

Everyone gasped.

"I didn't think he would dare attack Hogwarts!" Sirius fumed, standing up and pacing back and forth behind his chair.

"He cannot attack Hogwarts directly," Dumbledore continued, placing his fingertips together, "But sadly Hogsmead is virtually unprotected."

"Why would he do it!" Lily cried, "What could he possibly gain by attacking kids?"

"Fear," Dumbledore answered, "He wants the world to be afraid of him."

"But he wants Pureblood supremacy, right?" Alice asked, "He attacked a lot of Purebloods today, Amelia the worst."

"That is true," Dumbledore said pensively, "I have no reason to believe that Miss Bennett or Mr. Lupin were targeted directly. But I believe we can be fairly sure that this attack was made by one of Voldemort's followers. Probably not a very talented or intelligent one."

"What are we going to do, Professor?" Frank asked softly.

"We are going to increase the security around Hogsmead to prevent something like this from happening again," Dumbledore said strongly, but then he sighed again, "It is easy to protect our borders, but protecting the inside is much harder."

"What do you mean, Professor?" Raea asked.

"When I inform the students of what has happened, many of them will be afraid," he said sadly, "They will mistrust each other, see terrors where there are none. I fear the spirit of Hogwarts will suffer greatly."

"We'll have to find a way to fix that!" James said, leaping to his feet again, a defiant expression on his face.

"By all means James," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling again, "Let me know of any ideas you may have."

"We need to start brainstorming," James said, looking at Sirius.

"My favorite part," Sirius smiled at him.

"In the meantime, it is getting late," Dumbledore said, standing up and banishing his chair, "I will address the school at dinner tomorrow. You should all get some rest. It has been a very long day. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Professor," they all said back.

"He's right," James said softly, "We should head back up to bed."

"But what about Amelia?" Lily asked, concerned.

"I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will take good care of her," Sirius said, stretching as he stood.

"But I don't want to leave her alone," Raea said softly.

"I hope she'll be okay," Remus whispered hoarsely, speaking for the first time since he came to the hospital wing.

"_Remus…"_

It was so quiet that they barely heard the sigh of a name that came from Amelia's lips. Remus grabbed her hand and called out to her, trying to bring her back to the surface. Her lips turned up at the corners, almost a smile, but still she did not wake.

"I'll stay with her," Remus said, still holding her hand.

"Let us know if anything happens," Lily said, placing her hand briefly on Remus' shoulder.

"Of course."

* * *

**Hi there! So I updated way faster than I thought I would. I have just been in the mood to write the past week. I'm already ahead now, and have the next chapter done, so I'm thinking of maybe updating once a week from now on. Hopefully I'll be able to stick with that!**

**Please leave a comment! Let me know how you feel about the story so far! **

**-Yvonne**


	16. Chapter 16

**Yes, I know. I didn't update earlier because I was depressed. Only four people commented on the last chapter. Please, just tell me if it's terrible. Oh well, on to the chapter.**

"Remus…Remus wake up…it's morning."

Remus lifted his head up from where it was resting on the edge of Amelia's bed. Sunlight was shining through the high windows of the hospital wing. Standing at the foot of Amelia's bed were Lily, Raea, and Alice, all looking down at him.

"Did anything happen during the night?" Lily asked as Remus rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"No," Remus yawned, "She whispered a few more times, but she hasn't once opened her eyes."

"You should go eat some breakfast," Alice said, "We'll sit with her for now."

"But…-"

"No buts," Raea said, smiling at him, "You got hurt yesterday too. You need to keep your strength up. Plus, you're still wearing the same clothes as yesterday. You don't want Amelia to wake up and see you like that do you?"

Remus looked like he was going to argue, but then he looked down at himself. He still had bloodstained clothes and dirt all over him. He sighed in defeat. "Fine. I'll be back soon." He bent down and laid a soft kiss on Amelia's forehead, and then, not looking at the other girls there, he rushed out of the ward.

The hallway passed in a blur as Remus ran down the corridors up to Gryffidor Tower. He ignored the stunned looks he was getting as he sprinted past people who were enjoying their Sunday morning. Skidding to a halt outside the common room, he panted the password out to the fat lady.

"Remus!" James exclaimed when Remus ran into their dormitory, "How is Amelia doing?"

"Still the same," Remus sighed, walking to his trunk and pulling out new clothes.

"Sad day," Sirius said as he came out of the bathroom drying his hair with a towel.

"Lily, Raea, and Alice are with her right now," Remus said.

"Well that's good; at least she won't be alone when she wakes up," James said, smiling slightly.

"If she wakes up," Remus mumbled as he walked to the bathroom.

Sirius grabbed Remus by the shoulders and shook him, saying fiercely, "She will wake up! I've never met a girl as strong as Amelia. There's no way one little bump on the head could keep her down."

"Sirius is right," James agreed, "You need to have more faith in her."

"Imagine if it was Lily!" Remus rounded on him, "What would you do!" He turned to Sirius, "Or Raea! Sorry if it's hard being optimistic! Nothing good ever works for me! I should never have gone out with her in the first place!" He stalked into the bathroom and slammed the door.

Sirius and James exchanged a worried look and silently decided to leave Remus alone for a while so he could collect his thoughts. They both walked quietly down to the common room and took up seats by the fire.

"If only this hadn't happened right before Remus' 'time of the month'," Sirius said quietly to James.

"Yeah, he's always so tense before the transformation," James said sadly, "I wish there was something we could do."

"I don't know," Sirius grumbled, staring into the fire, "Why did this have to happen right when he finally let himself like a girl? It's just not fair."

"Life is never fair," James sighed, "If it were fair we wouldn't have to deal with these stupid bad guys in the first place."

"Dumbledore is going to make the announcement tonight at dinner," Sirius remembered, "How do you think people will take it?"

"Probably not very well," James said, looking around him at the kids relaxing carefree around the common room, "I worry especially for the little ones. This scares me now. It would have terrified me at eleven."

"I know what you mean," Sirius said, watching a couple first years laugh while trying to levitate a teddy bear, "We need to do something to help!"

"Exactly!" James said determinedly, "And I have a few ideas."

"Excellent!" Sirius smiled, "What have you got?"

"Well, first I was thinking we should…"

ooo

"It's almost time for dinner guys," Raea said, looking at her watch, "Dumbledore is going to make his announcement soon."

"We should probably go hear what he has to say," Lily sighed, still holding on to Amelia's hand, "I just don't want to leave Amelia alone."

"I'll stay," Remus said quietly from where he sat at Amelia's other side, "You guys go ahead."

"Are you sure?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, it's fine," Remus said.

"We'll eat fast and be back soon," Lily promised, then looked down at Amelia, "Come on Amelia, dragon pox couldn't even stop you from hopping on your new broom last Christmas. Don't let a little bump on the head keep you down this time!"

"Remus seems kind of out of it," Raea whispered as they walked out of the hospital wing.

"Yeah, poor guy," Alice said, "He has been looking so pale since yesterday, like a gust of wind could knock him over."

"I guess the guys really did have reason to worry when they were following him yesterday," Lily said pensively.

"I wonder what's wrong?" Raea said softly, "Is it just what happened to Amelia, or is something more going on?"

"I don't know, it's kind of strange," Lily said as they walked into the Great Hall. Unconsciously they sat down next to Sirius, James, and Peter.

"Where's Remus?" Sirius asked as the girls sat down.

"He stayed with Amelia," Raea whispered to him. The three boys exchanged a worried glance.

"Still no change with her?" James asked softly.

"None," Lily sighed, "She hasn't opened her eyes at all."

"She is going to wake up!" Sirius said resolutely, thumping his hand on the table.

"She had better!" Alice smiled sadly, "I think she finally has a boyfriend, and she's not even awake to realize it."

"How is Remus?" James asked hesitantly.

"We all noticed he seems a bit off," Lily admitted, "He is looking so pale, and he's barely talking."

"That's not good," Sirius said softly, right when Dumbledore stood to address the school.

The girls noticed that the boys were behaving oddly through the whole announcement. Sirius was starting to look agitated, and began tapping his wand on his leg unconsciously. James nervously checked his watch every few minutes. Peter was practically bouncing in his seat while he anxiously glanced at the darkening ceiling. The girls exchanged concerned looks. Raea placed her hand softly on Sirius' shoulder, who was sitting next to her.

"Are you guys all right?" she asked hesitantly.

Sirius jumped a little, "Yeah, fine," he said quickly.

When the food appeared on their plates they ate faster than the girls. Lily had never seen anyone inhale food like that before. When they finished they all stood quickly.

"We need to get to Remus," James said, as soon as they were all on their feet.

"We're coming too!" Lily said quickly, and Alice and Raea abandoned their plates and stood too.

"Whatever," Sirius said as they walked swiftly out of the Great Hall and up the staircase.

They burst into the hospital wing and walked hastily to Amelia's bed. Remus looked up at them in surprise.

"Remus, we need to go!" James announced strongly.

"No," Remus answered, not looking at him, "I don't want to leave her."

"Moony! Now would be a good time to get your brain back," Sirius said loudly.

"What's wrong with him staying?" Alice asked, "He's been sitting with her all day."

"Can't explain," Peter squeaked nervously, glancing at the window.

"Remus, now," James said, and he grabbed Remus' arm and pulled him up.

"What are you guys doing?" Lily asked angrily, "We're fine with him staying!"

"Stay out of it Lily," James said, not letting go of Remus. He began pulling him toward the door.

"No! I'm staying!" Remus shouted, trying to pull away from James.

Amelia stirred. Nobody noticed in all the commotion.

"Moony, please!" James pleaded loudly, still not letting go of Remus.

"Remus…"

"Amelia!" Remus shouted, trying to get to her. She was staring at him. Her eyes were open!

"Oh my gosh! Amelia!" Raea yelled, attacking Amelia with a hug.

"What's going on?" Amelia asked softly, trying to take in the scene.

"Amelia!" Remus shouted again, pulling harder from James.

"Crap! He's getting stronger!" James hissed through clenched teeth, his eyes wide with fear as he tried to keep hold of Remus, "Padfoot! Help me!"

Sirius ran forward and grabbed Remus on the other side. With both of their strength combined they began making slow progress toward the exit. But the girls could see they were having a hard time. Both boys looked terrified too.

"Wormtail! Help!" Sirius yelled, and Peter ran up and began pushing on Remus' chest. With his added strength they were able to finally reach the exit.

"Lock the door behind us! In case we lose hold of him!" James yelled to Peter.

As soon as they made it through the door, Peter turned and slammed it shut. The girls heard the lock slide into place, and then there was silence. Madam Pomfrey suddenly ran out of her office looking worried.

"What is going on!" she demanded.

"Potter and Black were forcing Remus to leave," Alice responded, still looking confused.

"He was still here!" Madam Pomfrey gasped, her hand on her heart. She had found out a couple years ago that Remus had told his friends about his condition. Ever since then she had trusted them to escort Remus to the willow each month, instead of going herself.

"Of course. He's been sitting with Amelia almost nonstop," Lily said, looking a little cross, "That was really mean of them to pull him away now."

"What is going on?" Amelia demanded weakly as she tried to sit up.

"Oh my goodness! Miss Bennett! You're awake!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed. In all the confusion and shock she hadn't noticed.

"Yes, and my head is killing me," Amelia groaned, finally giving up on trying to sit up as she fell back onto her pillows.

"I need to examine you," Madam Pomfrey said briskly, "If you girls could step out for a moment."

"Um…the boys locked the door," Raea informed her.

"Oh, well that was good of them," Madam Pomfrey said approvingly, "Just go sit over there then." She gestured to a bed a little ways down the ward.

"What the heck just happened?" Lily asked as soon as they sat down.

"I have no idea," Alice said, shaking her head, "It was very strange."

"The boys were looking scared," Raea commented contemplatively, "Didn't you notice?"

"I wonder why?" Lily asked, "And Potter said he was getting stronger? What's with that?"

"I don't know," Alice said, thinking hard, "How could someone so weak looking before practically fight off three grown men?"

"And Potter and Black aren't exactly fairy princesses," Raea said, "I doubt there are many people here who could beat them at arm wrestling."

"It's really bizarre," Lily determined, "And Madame Pomfrey seems to be in on it."

"Maybe we should look into this more," Raea suggested, "We could grill Potter and Black."

"Good idea," Lily agreed, already planning her attack in her head.

"We should leave Amelia out of it though," Alice decided, "She really likes Remus, and I don't think she would want us doing this."

"Good idea," Raea agreed, "We don't want to worry her. I don't think she caught most of what was going on since she had just woken up."

"Okay! Operation find out what is going on with the guys is now started!" Lily said defiantly.

"Guys, what happened?" Amelia called to them as soon as Madam Pomfrey walked back to her office.

"It's a long story," Raea sighed, taking a seat by Amelia's bed, Lily and Alice following suit.

**I've already finished the next chapter, and it is a long one! And I have some headway on the chapter after that too. Please Review! It gives me incentive to actually post the next chapter. If nobody likes it, then I'll just stop.**

**Thanks so much to those of you who have actually been reviewing. sersmom, Super Cara, vampire-luver101, and Hannah, thank you so much for reviewing on the last chapter. This chapter was dedicated to you. :)  
**

**-Yvonne  
**


	17. Chapter 17

**This one is longer than usual! Hope you like it!**

"Do you think he's trying to drown himself in there?" Sirius asked, looking over toward the bathroom in their dormitory where they could still hear the shower running.

"I don't know, he's been in there for over an hour already," James said worriedly, running his hand through his hair, "Our free period is almost over."

Last night's transformation had been one of the worst. It was all his friends could do to keep Remus from tearing himself apart. He had had so much anger and resentment flowing through him right before he changed that it made his wolf that much stronger. Sirius and James had scratches all over their bodies from trying to keep Remus contained in his overly aggressive state. Peter had scurried around all night trying to give some sort of distraction for the wolf; he was now sleeping soundly during his break to try to relieve some of his exhaustion.

When Remus finally returned to himself in the early hours of the morning, it was with a look of such loathing and sadness that he met his friends' eyes before he broke down into heart wrenching sobs. His friends had carried him back to their dormitory in silence, tucked him into bed, and gave him a sleeping draught that would keep the nightmares at bay while he regained his strength.

After finishing their lunch, the boys had returned to their dormitory to check on their best friend. They were surprised to find him sitting up in bed and staring blankly at the wall across from him. He glanced at them when they walked in, making them wince at the hollow look in his eyes.

"I almost didn't leave, didn't I?" he had asked, his voice completely emotionless, "I almost changed there, didn't I? I could have hurt them, couldn't I? I would have killed her, wouldn't I?"

"You were just worried about Amelia," James said softly, walking up to his friend, "It's not your fault."

If Remus had heard him he didn't make any indication of it. He simply got slowly out of his bed and walked to the bathroom, shutting the door softly behind him. A couple seconds later they heard the shower turn on.

"Do you think we should check on him?" Sirius asked as they were gathering their bags up again to head to Charms.

James walked over to the bathroom and knocked, "Remus, you okay?"

The water shut off abruptly, and Remus walked out a minute later wrapped in his robe.

"Remus?" Sirius asked softly, walking toward him.

Remus ignored him and climbed back in bed, hair still wet as he laid his head on the pillow.

"Come on guys," James said, shaking his head in defeat, "Let's just let him sleep."

"Hey Potter!" Lily called when James, Sirius, and Peter walked into Charms. James' eyes lit up when she called him, though not as much as they usually did because of the troubles he and his friends were going through. The boys claimed the table behind the girls.

"Hi Lily," James said, taking his seat. Raea and Alice turned around to face them too.

"Where's Remus?" Lily asked, "We haven't seen him all day. Amelia keeps asking about him."

"He hasn't been feeling very good today," James replied sadly, "He's been up sleeping in our room."

"How is Amelia?" Sirius asked, trying to change the topic away from Remus.

"She's doing fine," Raea said, "Madam Pomfrey will let her go tonight after dinner."

"That's great!" James smiled, "We should have a party for her when she gets out."

"Definitely!" Sirius said loudly, a huge grin on his face.

"Just nothing too rambunctious," Lily said sternly. She was met with three identical looks of disappointment. Lily sighed, "That's not just because of me. Madame Pomfrey said that Amelia needs to take it easy because her head is still recovering."

"Okay," James conceded at once. He looked up to see Professor Flitwick start to climb up his stack of books to start the class. James leaned forward to Lily to whisper in her ear, "Lily, I need to talk to you after class."

Lily looked at him confused.

"It's Head's stuff," he clarified.

"Oh, okay then," Lily whispered back before turning to listen to Professor Flitwick talk about concealment charms.

ooo

"Okay, what did you need to talk about?" Lily asked as they walked out of the classroom.

"You have a free period right now don't you?" James asked, just to make sure.

"Yeah," Lily said slowly.

"Let's go on a walk around the grounds while the weather is still nice," he suggested, then seeing the look on her face, he added, "It's easier to discuss important things when there are no prying passerby's."

"I guess that's true," Lily conceded, and began walking to the entrance hall. They went through the tall doors out into the autumn sunlight. The grounds were almost deserted with the exception of a few sixth and seventh years who were relaxing in what little warmth was left in the sunshine.

James walked down toward the lake, Lily following along behind him. They made it to the large beech tree that cast a shadow into the lake, some of its branches even reaching down to touch the dark water, making ripples when the light breeze blew against its golden leaves. James sat down against the gnarled roots that sprouted below the tree. Lily followed hesitantly, finally taking a seat across from him on the soft grass.

"I talked with Sirius yesterday about some ideas I had to try to lift the morale of the school after the announcement," James began, looking at Lily, "I wanted to get your opinion before I brought my ideas to Dumbledore."

"Oh, okay," Lily said, taken aback, "What did you have in mind?"

"Well you know how Halloween is in a couple of weeks?" James started, and Lily nodded, "Well I was thinking we could have a Halloween party! We could do it right after the feast, and have lots of drinks and snacks and play some music!"

"That's not too bad of an idea," Lily said, thinking it over, a smile coming over her face, "But let's make it a costume party!"

"A costume party?" James asked, confused.

"Yeah, that's what Muggles do on Halloween," Lily explained, "They dress up in costumes and eat lots of candy. It's one of the things I missed about going to Hogwarts. Wizards don't have as much fun on Halloween."

"That sounds really cool!" James said, almost shaking with excitement, "Where would everyone get costumes though?"

"Well if we got permission from Dumbledore to go down to Hogsmead, we could talk to Adrian. I'm sure she would help us! She knows where to get the best stuff, and it would bring her lots of business!" Lily said, almost as excited as James.

"Let's do it!" James exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear, "I have some other plans too, but let's just focus on this one for now."

"Sounds good," Lily smiled back at him, "We need to go see Dumbledore."

"Let's go see him tonight before dinner," James decided, "After our last classes get out."

"Okay," Lily stood up and began dusting herself off, "Well I need to go visit Amelia."

"Oh! Can I come?" James asked at once.

"I suppose so," Lily said as she headed back up to the castle, James not far behind her.

"Hey," James said, as they walked into the hall again, "With all that's happened, I just realized that I haven't asked you out in almost two whole days!"

Lily groaned and didn't look at him.

"So…will you go out with me?" James asked, giving her a winning smile.

"Potter…" Lily groaned again, but then remembered her conversation with Alice and Raea the previous night in the hospital wing, "Hmm…I'll go out with you if you answer one question for me."

"Really!?" James exclaimed, feeling like he was floating on air, "What's the question?"

Lily stopped abruptly and turned to face him. "What is going on with Remus?"

James suddenly came crashing back to reality and his expression became stony. "I can't answer that."

"Why not?" Lily questioned, frustrated. She had thought that would work.

"That isn't my question to answer," James frowned at her, then his expression became pained, "I can't believe you would do that to me! Trying to wheedle out my friends secrets by promising to go on a date with me? Just what kind of person do you think I am, Lily?"

Lily didn't know what to say. James looked at her for another moment, then, shoving his hands in his pockets, he turned and walked away in the opposite direction from the hospital wing. Lily felt like her body was full of lead. She wouldn't be able to forget that look of hurt on his handsome face very quickly.

It was another ten minutes before Lily managed to make it up to the hospital wing. Raea and Alice were already there sitting by Amelia's bed. To Lily's surprise, Sirius Black was there too, standing on the other side of Amelia's bed, and seemed to be telling her an amusing story, as she was doubled over in laughter against her pillow.

"And then I turned to the grindylow and said – Oh hey Lily!" Sirius stopped mid-sentence when he noticed Lily walk up, "Finished your meeting with James? Where is that bloke anyway?"

"I don't know," Lily sighed, pulling up a chair and plopping down in it.

"Lily what's wrong?" Amelia asked, reaching down to touch her friend's shoulder.

"I think I broke him," Lily said softly, looking into her lap.

"Broke who?" Raea asked.

"What did you do to James?!" Sirius exclaimed, looking at Lily intently.

"I just said I'd go out with him if he would tell me what's going on with Remus," Lily mumbled.

"You did what!?" Sirius bellowed, looking furious. Without a second look at any of the girls he stormed out of the ward to go find his friend.

The girls all looked shocked at Sirius' sudden departure.

"Lily, what happened?" Raea asked, looking at her best friend.

Lily reluctantly recounted what had happened in the corridor.

"You know he has a point," Alice said gently.

"Why were you asking about him anyway?" Amelia asked, feeling like she was out of the loop.

"He's just been really weird the past few days," Raea shrugged, "We just wanted to know what was going on."

"Do you think Potter will stop asking me out now?" Lily asked, trying to look hopeful but failing miserably. She looked depressed, and her friends could see it.

"I don't know Lil," Raea said softly, shaking her head, "I think you hurt him pretty bad."

"Goodness, it's just one problem after another around here isn't it?" Lily groaned into her hands.

ooo

James didn't so much as look at Lily through the next three classes, despite Lily's obvious attempts to catch his eye. He sat stony faced as he easily transfigured a cactus into a ferret, pruned a feinting fichus without so much as a stressed limb, and made a perfect settling solution that had Professor Slughorn pleasantly surprised.

Lily waited by the door after potions so she could corner him after he finished cleaning up his cauldron. James walked right up to her though and looked down at her, his expression still unfeeling.

"We need to go talk to the headmaster," he said quietly, and walked past her slowly down the corridor.

Lily only nodded and dumbly followed him down the hall. She felt terrible as she walked beside this moving statue that was James Potter. More than once she reached up to touch his arm, only to pull back at the last second.

When they finally reached the stone gargoyle guarding the headmasters office Lily suddenly grabbed James' arm before he could say the password. He looked down at her, surprised.

"Potter-James," Lily said, forcing herself to use his first name for the first time. Shock registered on his face, "Look, I am so sorry for what I said earlier. I shouldn't have done that, and I am so sorry that I hurt you. I didn't mean to. I've just been so worried about Amelia, and then Remus was acting so strangely that I was worried about him too, I just wanted to know what was going on. I wasn't really thinking, and—."

"Lily," James whispered, cutting her off. He looked down at her, and she was relieved to see warmth in his eyes again. "I forgive you."

"Really?" Lily asked hopefully.

"Really," James confirmed, smiling at her, "It's okay. I know the last couple days have been crazy on everyone, including me. I probably could have behaved better too."

"Thanks," Lily whispered, looking down at her feet.

A sly smile suddenly flashed on James' face. "So, does this mean you're going to call me James from now on?"

"Don't count on it Potter," Lily smirked up at him, which made him burst out laughing.

"Well you two look like you're having a good time."

Lily and James whipped around to see Professor Dumbledore standing behind them in front of the gargoyle. His eyes were twinkling with mirth as he looked at his Head Boy and Girl.

"Oh! Professor! We were just coming to see you!" James exclaimed, running a hand through his hair.

"I figured as much," Dumbledore smiled, "Well I am on my way to dinner. Would you care to walk with me down to the Great Hall?"

"Of course Professor," Lily said, following the headmaster down the corridor. It felt strange to be walking down the corridor with Professor Dumbledore. Lily had never seen him walking in the corridors before. He always just seemed to appear places.

"Professor, I had an idea about something to boost morale," James began as they walked, "And Lily agrees with it too."

"And what is this idea?" Dumbledore asked smiling.

"I want to have a Halloween party!" James exclaimed, "Lily was thinking we should have costumes too, so it will be like a Muggle party."

"That sounds like a splendid idea," Dumbledore nodded as they walked down the stairs, "I do love Muggle parties."

"Do you Professor?" Lily asked curiously.

"Oh yes," Dumbledore replied, looking at her, "I have always thought that wizard parties can be most stuffy at times. Muggles do know what they are doing when it comes to fun."

"I've always thought the same thing," Lily said, amused that she had this in common with the headmaster.

"Well you have my consent to hold this party," Dumbledore said when they reached the doors to the Great Hall, "You will need to arrange everything, though I will alert the staff."

"Thank you Professor," James beamed, "Oh! We also wanted your permission to go down to Hogsmead to ask the owner of Quincy's to help us with the costumes."

"Of course, of course," Dumbledore nodded, "You may go tomorrow evening after your lessons conclude."

"Thank you Professor!" Lily and James both said in unison, then looked at each other and burst out laughing again. Professor Dumbledore chuckled to himself as he walked into the Great Hall.

ooo

"Hey guys! She's coming!" Sirius yelled to the common room after he pulled his head in from looking out of the portrait hole.

His announcement was met with a flurry of motion as everyone, from tiny first years to tall seventh years, hid behind what furniture they could or simply cast disillusionment charms on themselves as quickly as possible.

They could hear someone talking to the Fat Lady outside, giving her the password, and slowly the door opened.

"Surprise!" everyone yelled as Amelia walked into the room and they all jumped out from where they were hiding. Amelia's hands flew to her mouth in shock, then she grinned and began laughing along with everyone else.

"What's all this about?" Amelia asked when Lily, Alice, Raea, Sirius, James, Peter, and Frank surrounded her.

"We were all so happy you were okay that we just wanted to celebrate," Raea smiled at her.

"Plus, it gave us an excuse to throw a party!" Sirius exclaimed before getting elbowed in the side by Raea.

"Come on!" Alice said, pulling Amelia toward the table laden with snacks, "We got all your favorites!"

The party went on for a couple of hours before the first kids began heading up to bed. Everyone was lounging around on the couches and floor, sipping butterbeer as they exchanged stories.

"Oh, Amelia," James said, sitting up to pull a bag out from behind his chair, "Professor McGonagall gave me these this afternoon. It's all that was still good after the explosion."

Amelia took the bag and burst out laughing when she opened it. Inside was a good majority of the candy she had bought from Hogsmead. Some of the wrappers looked a little charred, but the candy inside was still good.

"I can't believe all of this survived!" Amelia laughed, sifting through her candy. A frown suddenly came over her face. Sitting on the bottom of the bag was the large chocolate bar she had bought for Remus. She looked up at Sirius and James, "Where's Remus?"

"Remus hasn't been feeling very good," James said softly, looking concerned, "He's probably still sleeping upstairs."

"Is it okay if I go up there and see him?" Amelia asked as she held up the chocolate bar, "I bought this for him, but I still haven't given it to him."

James looked over at his roommates. Sirius just shrugged. Peter nodded slowly. Frank waved his hand from where he was sitting by Alice and said, "Fine by me."

"Thanks guys," Amelia smiled at them before she stood and walked up the stairs to the boy's dormitory, the chocolate bar clutched in her hand. At the top of the staircase she found the door marked _Seventh Year_ and knocked softly. No answer came so she figured he was sleeping. She gently opened the door, having decided to just place the bar on his bedside table.

When she opened the door the first thing she noticed was that the lights were off, the only light in the room was a small glow of a wand coming from the middle bed.

"Remus?" she asked softly, walking over to his bed. Remus looked like a deer in the headlights when he looked up from his book at her.

"Amelia," he said hoarsely, "What are you doing here?"

"Well I just got out of the hospital, and I realized I never gave you your chocolate bar," she smiled, holding out the large bar of Honeydukes best. "How are you feeling? The guys said you were sick. I hope I didn't make it worse by dragging you to Hogsmead that day."

"I'm okay," Remus whispered, not looking at her.

"Just okay?" Amelia asked, staring intently at him.

Remus almost smiled as he stared at the candy in his hand. "Let me rephrase."

Amelia laughed softly and sat down on the edge of his bed. "What's wrong Remus? The girls told me that you hardly left my side while I was asleep, and yet now that I'm awake, I almost feel like you don't want me here."

"I shouldn't…I never should have…Amelia, you should really just stay away from me," Remus finally got out, still not looking at her, "For your own wellbeing, just forget about me."

"What?" Amelia asked, looking hurt and confused, "What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I said," Remus whispered, "I'm no good for you Amelia, you deserve better."

"What do you mean?" Amelia asked again, "You are an amazing person, the most wonderful guy I've ever met, and you don't want to be around me anymore?"

"I could hurt you Amelia, I already almost did!" Remus exclaimed, before he jumped out of bed, and began pacing across the floor.

"I don't believe you could ever hurt me Remus," Amelia whispered, looking down at her hands, "Except by pushing me away right after I realized how much I like you."

"You shouldn't like me Amelia!" Remus groaned, "And I should never have let myself like you either. I swore I would never fall in love. I swore I would be alone forever. But I was so happy, I just let myself fall."

"You like me too?" Amelia asked, hope shining in her eyes.

"Yes," Remus gasped, collapsing to his knees on the floor, his head in his hands as he began sobbing, "But I shouldn't. I shouldn't. And you shouldn't either. Oh, if you knew. If you knew! You wouldn't like me. You would avoid me. You would hate me!"

"I could never hate you." Remus felt a warm arm wrap around his shoulders. He looked up to see Amelia kneeling down next to him on the cold dormitory floor, a warm smile on her face as she reached with her other hand to wipe the tears from his face.

"You don't know what you are saying," Remus whispered, looking into her violet eyes.

"I think I do," Amelia said gently, her hand still on his cheek.

Remus looked at her. Her dark hair was covering part of her face as she leaned next to him, and in the dim light of the moon that he feared so much her skin looked soft and creamy. Oh, how easily he could fall for her. For her childlike smile, and her contagious excitement that could fill up a room. For her enthusiasm for life and her dark beauty. He could fall for her, he knew it. But three words could break that picture like glass.

"Amelia," he whispered, almost against his own will. The words seemingly being forced out by the beating of his heart, "I'm a Werewolf."

**He said it! Yeah, I updated. haha I hope you like this chapter! Please leave a comment! They really do give me incentive to keep writing! :)**

**-Yvonne  
**


	18. Chapter 18

**Yep! I'm not dead, and this story is not abandoned! Please forgive me for taking almost a year to post the next chapter of this story. I have been having issues with health, school, and not having any desire to do anything. But I promise it won't happen again. I will finish this story if it's the last thing I do! This is the longest chapter so far, so I hope you enjoy it!**

**Sorry for leaving you on a cliff-hanger last chapter! :/**

"What?" Amelia whispered, so quietly Remus could barely hear it. Her hand fell from his face and she stood up and walked to the window, looking out over the grounds.

"I'm a Werewolf," Remus repeated, his heart aching from having to say those foul words again, looking anywhere but her.

"For how long?" Amelia asked stiffly, still looking out the window.

"Since I was about six," Remus whispered, hating himself more and more by the second.

Amelia finally turned to look at him as things began to click together in her head. "You always leave once a month. You always get sick so much," she gasped and her hands flew to her mouth as her eyes grew wide with fear, "Last night was a full moon…the guys dragging you away…oh my gosh!"

Remus felt like he wanted to hang himself seeing that look of fear on her face. "I told you you'd hate me," he whispered, looking down at the ground again, "If the guys hadn't pulled me away last night I probably would have massacred the school."

Suddenly Remus was knocked off his feet. He thought Amelia had sent a hex at him in fear, only to realize once he crashed to the ground that there was a body on top of him. Amelia had thrown herself at him, and was clinging tightly to him as they lay on the floor.

"Oh Remus, I'm so sorry!" Amelia was sobbing into his chest, "I never knew, I never would have guessed. You've been holding this burden for so long. It must be so hard! I'm so sorry!"

Remus was in shock. He couldn't move or speak, just simply stare up into those miraculous violet eyes that were pouring tears onto his pajama tee shirt. Tears for him. Nobody except his mother had ever cried for him before. But this beautiful girl, this pureblood girl, who had probably grown up hearing about how terrible Werewolves were, was clinging to him, and crying for him. It was beyond comprehension.

Amelia finally rolled off of him and onto the floor. Remus sat up, confusion written all over his face. He couldn't think of anything to say. Amelia reached over and grasped his hand.

"I could never hate you Remus. It must have been so hard for you to tell me that. You are the strongest person I have ever met."

Not being able to express his emotions through words, Remus simply leaned over and captured her lips with his. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, with her tear tracked face, and her eyes red from crying, because it was all for him. When they broke apart Amelia looked surprised, but happy.

"You're amazing, you know that?" Remus said, standing and pulling her up so he could wrap his arms around her small frame.

"Not as amazing as you," Amelia smiled, pecking him lightly on the lips again.

ooo

James looked up at the boy's staircase as Lily and Raea finally stood and announced they were going to head to bed.

"Let Amelia know that we went up," Lily asked of James as she paused on the first step up to the girl's dormitory.

"Of course," James replied, "Sleep well Lily."

"You too."

"Goodnight Raea!" Sirius called, smiling up at her. Raea smiled back and continued climbing.

"I think I'm going to go up with them," Alice said, standing up and giving a kiss to Frank.

"Sleep well, Love," Frank smiled, as she walked away.

"What is taking them so long?" Sirius whined, flopping down on the couch with his hands behind his head.

"I don't know," James said, pondering, "We can't really go up there and ask."

Peter gave a little snore from his place on the floor where he was sprawled out sleeping soundly.

"I am falling asleep," Frank said, yawning.

"Me too," Sirius groaned, throwing a pillow over his head.

Suddenly they heard the soft creak of an opening door, and heard light footsteps on the boy's staircase. All three conscious boys looked up and saw Remus and Amelia coming down the stairs. And…they were holding hands!

Sirius suddenly shot to his feet and let out a "Hooray!" that should have woken the entire tower.

"You're together now!?" James asked, a huge smile on his face.

"I guess so," Remus smiled back. Even though he still looked exhausted, according to his friends he had never looked younger or healthier than at that moment.

"Congratulations you two," Frank said, before yawning again, "Well I am going to head up to bed. Night all."

As soon as they heard the door shut above them, Remus turned to his friends.

"She knows," he said simply, still holding Amelia's hand. Amelia squeezed his hand back and smiled at him.

"Really?!" Sirius exclaimed, "She's one of us now!"

"I told you it would be okay!" James said, standing up and hugging Remus.

"I wouldn't believe it till it happened," Remus said, shaking his head, still in shock.

"He didn't know me very well, did he?" Amelia asked, nudging Remus a little as she smiled.

"That he didn't," James laughed.

"Oh oh oh! She needs a nickname!" Sirius said, bouncing up and down.

"A nickname?" Amelia asked.

"Yeah," James responded, looking her over, "I'm Prongs, Sirius is Padfoot, Peter is Wormtail, and Remus is Moony."

"Well I understand the Moony one now," Amelia said, looking at them, "But what's with those other names?"

"Um…" Remus really didn't want to get his friends in trouble, and they weren't sure if they wanted that secret to get out just yet.

"What's your Patronus?" James asked, thinking quickly. He saw the relieved looks on his friend's faces.

"Oh, those are your Patronuses?" Amelia asked, "Well mine is a panda."

"A panda?" Sirius asked, bewildered.

"What!? I love pandas!" Amelia retorted, hands on her hips.

"I think a panda is a lovely patronus," James smiled, while smacking Sirius in the back of the head, "It could probably beat your dog."

"Fine, fine," Sirius muttered, rubbing his head.

"Well how about Patches?" James asked after thinking for a minute, "For the patches around a pandas eyes."

"Okay then," Amelia smiled, "Guess I'm one of you now!"

"Guess you are," Remus smiled, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

"Oh, the girls are going to hate this!" Amelia laughed, a devilish gleam in her violet eyes.

ooo

"So?" Raea asked as soon as Amelia opened the door to their dormitory. Amelia threw them a huge smile and the other three girls squealed in excitement.

"Come on! Details! Details!" Lily pushed, bouncing on her bed.

Amelia hesitated, not sure what to tell them.

"What happened?" Alice asked, smiling at her.

"Well I went up there, and I think I may have surprised him a bit," Amelia started, deciding to keep it simple, "I guess he wasn't expecting me to come find him bearing a large bar of chocolate."

All of the girls laughed at that. Amelia was staring to enjoy her story, but knew she would have to tread lightly.

"He started rambling about how he's no good for me," Amelia sighed, her friends expressing their complaints around her.

"Why would he think that? Raea demanded, frowning.

"What?!" Lily almost yelled.

Amelia held her hand up to stop her friends' comments. "But then he said he should have never fallen in love with me." She waited for the impact of these words to compute, and suddenly all three girls squealed in unison.

"He said he's fallen in love with you?" Raea asked eagerly.

Amelia nodded, smiling again. Suddenly she was tacked by hugs.

"Well did you convince him that he's good?" Lily asked after letting Amelia go.

"Yep!" Amelia smiled, thinking of that shocked look on his face when he realized she accepted him, fur and all.

"And…?!" Alice said expectantly.

"He kissed me!" Amelia grinned.

It's a wonder anyone in the tower got any sleep that night with the noise coming from the seventh year's rooms.

ooo

"The costumes will be sold this weekend in the empty room across from the Great Hall starting today and going through Sunday," Lily announced to the school during breakfast on Friday, "There are plenty to go around and they are at many different price ranges, so there should be something there for everyone."

"The party will start Monday evening an hour after the feast," James added as he stood next to Lily, "So make sure you have your costumes ready so you can change after dinner and be ready to party!"

A cheer went up around the hall as Lily and James stepped down. You could tell just by looking at them that everyone was excited about the upcoming party. The doom and gloom of the last few days had been wearing on everyone. The attack on Hogsmead had be reported in the Daily Prophet, and hardly a day had gone by without one or more howlers from concerned parents heard echoing from some part of the school, whether to the teachers or the students. Everyone in the wizarding world was shocked that anyone would attack so close to Hogwarts.

When the announcement of the party came it was like a warm breeze had blown all the troubles out of Hogwarts, even if only for a little while. Everyone was grateful of the distraction. Now as they walked from class to class, all anyone heard was talk of the party, who would wear what costumes, or who would go with whom. Halloween was closing fast.

"Should we go check out the selection during our free period this morning?" Raea asked her friends as they walked out of the Great Hall and headed toward Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Yes!" Amelia exclaimed, "Oh the pleasures of being a seventh year! We get first picks because all the little kids will still be in class!"

"It is quite nice," Lily agreed as they walked into the classroom, "We have been here the longest, so we deserve the perks that come with it."

"You guys wouldn't be talking about the Halloween party would you?" James asked, leading his friends up behind the girls.

"How did you know?" Amelia asked.

"That's all anyone is talking about," Remus smiled, walking over to Amelia and planting a soft kiss on her cheek. Amelia grabbed his hand and pulled him into the seat next to hers. With Alice sitting next to Frank beside them, this left Lily and Raea to sit by James and Sirius. Both boys were happy to see that the girls didn't look as put out by this arrangement as they usually would have.

"We're going to go check out the costumes during the free period this morning," Alice said softly as Professor Wadsfellow hobbled up to the front of the room, "Care to join us?"

"We'd love to!" Sirius exclaimed enthusiastically, before covering his mouth after realizing he had practically shouted.

"Five points from Gryffindor, Mr. Black," Professor Wadsfellow said sharply, bringing the class to silence, "Next time please leave your juvenile outbursts in the corridor."

ooo

"Ha ha!" Amelia laughed as they walked out of the classroom an hour later. Professor Wadsfellow had singled Sirius out a few more times throughout the lesson for talking too loudly as he tried to impress Raea.

"Spit Wad sure was grumpy today, wasn't he?" Sirius grumbled, "That man has ears like a bat."

"If you had simply stayed quiet like you were supposed to, then that wouldn't have happened," Lily said smugly, not quite holding in her laughter.

"Oh well, it doesn't matter anymore," Remus said calmly to Sirius, "Yes he did seem a little grumpy today, but it is probably just because of the air of excitement that has popped up since the announcement about the party. You know how he hates 'an overabundance of infantile frivolity' as he so eloquently puts it."

"I'm going to have to start bringing a dictionary to class if he keeps using such big words," Alice laughed as they walked down the corridor.

"Guess you can't really expect anything less from an old Ravenclaw," James smiled, clapping Sirius on the back, "Cheer up mate! We need to go costume shopping!"

The group walked happily through the corridors down to the room off the Great Hall that was put aside for the costumes. They all looked around in awe when they walked in. Rows and rows of racks were crammed into the room, stuffed with so many amazing things they didn't know where to look first. They pretty much had the whole room to themselves, with the exception of a couple other sixth and seventh years who were perusing through the selection.

"Girls!" a shout came from behind one of the nearest racks. Adrian Quincy suddenly appeared in front of them, and all the girls ran over to give her a hug.

"Adrian! Thanks again for doing this for us," Lily said as she took her turn to hug her.

"No problem dear," Adrian responded cheerfully, "I'm always happy to lend a hand to this school. Merlin knows we all need some cheering up right now. All the shopkeeps in Hogsmead have been very on edge since that attack a few weeks ago. I was so worried when I heard you were involved," Adrian said as she gave Amelia an extra squeeze.

"Thanks Adrian," Amelia smiled, "We're all okay now though."

"I can see that," Adrian said knowingly, eyeing Remus and Amelia's clasped hands. Remus blushed lightly, but smiled back at her, "Well come have a look around! Boys costumes are there on the left," she said pointing, "And girls, you're over here on the right. There's plenty to choose from. And because you four girls are my best customers, you and your friends can all have half price."

"Thank you ma'am," James and Sirius both said in sync, with matching maniacal grins marring their handsome features, before they ran over to the men's racks and began laughing like wild hyenas.

"Right…I should probably stop them before they break something," Remus sighed, giving Amelia a soft kiss on the cheek before he released her hand and joined his friends. Frank followed behind him and began looking over some of the racks.

"Those boys really are a handful, aren't they?" Adrian asked as she led the girls over to the most extravagant costumes near the back of the room.

"Tell me about it," Lily sighed, rolling her eyes, "Now you understand what we've been telling you all these years."

"That is true," Adrian chuckled, "Though from the way you girls used to talk about them, I would never have figured you would suddenly be spending so much time with them," she winked at Lily and Raea. Raea rolled her eyes as well, though it did little to distract from the soft blush that was creeping up on her cheeks.

"Okay girls," Adrian said as she finally reached the very back corner of the room, "I picked these dresses out for you four. As soon as I saw them I knew they were perfect." She reached behind the racks that were against the wall, pushing the costumes around her out of the way. Hanging on the wall itself were four of the most beautiful dresses any of them had ever seen. Adrian pulled the first one out and held it up for them to see. "I hid them back here so that nobody else would get them first. I knew you four would be in here as soon as you could."

The dress she was holding was a very pale pink satin with thin straps and a V-neck front. The skirt was gathered in just the right places so that it created a choppy layered look at the bottom, and fell to about mid-calf at the points.

"I grabbed this one for you Alice," Adrian explained, smiling as she handed it to a beaming Alice, "It's a version of a muggle fairy or a forest sprite."

"It's beautiful!" Alice exclaimed, holding it up to herself and twirling in a circle.

"This one is yours Lily," Adrian said as she pulled out a green dress with an empire waist and held it up to her. The silky satin reached the floor where the bottom of the dress faded into a turquoise color. A part of the front was gathered up so that some bright pink satin shone through. "It's also supposed to be a fairy, though yours actually does come with wings," she pulled a pair of transparent looking wings that faded from pink to yellow and held them up with the dress, "I just knew it would look beautiful with your hair."

"I love it!" Lily squealed as she let the smooth material pass through her fingers.

"And this one I thought would look lovely on you Amelia," Adrian grabbed a pink dress off the wall. It had a high neck and elaborate embroidered flowers across it. "It's a traditional Chinese dress. I have a pretty butterfly clip that you can put in your hair that goes with it perfectly."

"Thanks Adrian! This is wonderful!" Amelia responded, putting the dress over her arm.

"So I'm guessing this one is mine," Raea asked, grabbing the last dress and looking at it with wonder in her eyes.

"Yep!" Adrian smiled, "A bit of a twist on a ballerina dress." The dress was black and red tulle, layered to add volume to the tutu-like skirt, with a corset top and pale tulle sleeves. "It has a matching black lace choker too."

"I've always wanted to be a ballerina!" Raea exclaimed, hugging the dress to her, "And I love the colors!"

"Well I'm glad that you all like them," Adrian smiled at the four girls around her.

"Of course we like them!" Lily responded, throwing her arms around her, "You are amazing!"

Raea, Amelia, and Alice all ran over and joined the hug, squeezing Adrian with all their might.

"Girls, girls! I can't breathe!" Adrian laughed from the middle of the group, "Come up front and I can ring you guys up."

"Oh! Wait!" Amelia exclaimed, "We should keep our costumes a surprise from the guys."

"Right!" Adrian said, pulling out her wand. She tapped each of their hangers, and suddenly each dress was covered by a light pink garment bag.

"Perfect!" Alice smiled, running her fingers across her bag. She couldn't see a thing through it.

Adrian led the way back to the front of the room where she had a desk set up.

"Hold on here for a minute girls, and I'll go check on the guys. I'm sure they want to keep it a surprise too, so stay here!" Adrian smiled as she walked away to where the boys were being oddly quiet on the other side of the room. "Need some help boys?"

"Adrian!" James cried, running towards her looking frantic, "Help us! We have three purebloods and a half-blood here. We have no idea what any of this stuff is!"

Adrian looked around at the other boys there. Sirius looked simply lost as he stood in the middle of the aisle, not even trying to go through the racks. Frank was timidly looking at the selection in front of him, his uncertainty was almost palpable in the air. Remus, on the other hand, was leisurely sifting through the racks, a small smirk on his face, not even trying to help his friends.

Taking in the whole scene in front of her, Adrian tried, but eventually failed to hold her laughter in.

"You purebloods always crack me up!" Adrian said through her giggles. She was met with two affronted looks (James and Sirius) and one confused look (Frank). "Come on gents, let's dress you up." She continued laughing as she led the guys a little farther into the room. As she passed Remus she gave him a little shove on the shoulder. "Why didn't you help them?" she asked him, still smiling.

"James and Sirius are so rarely unsure about anything, I thought it would be a good learning experience," Remus laughed, ignoring the dirty glares his two best friends were throwing him.

"Well I think they've been in the dark long enough," Adrian grinned, "Let's give them a good lesson in muggle culture."

A half hour later Adrian returned to the front desk with the four guys in tow, each of them carrying a black garment bag over their shoulders.

"Finally!" Lily exclaimed, "We hoped…I mean,_ thought_ you had all died back there."

"You wound me Lily," James said, dramatically staggering as he held his hands over his heart, "Admit it, you would be sad if I died."

"I would only be sad because then I would have to do all the Head's duties by myself," Lily retorted, smirking.

"Ah! But you admit you would be sad!" James countered, grinning like a mad man, "I'll take what I can get."

Lily rolled her eyes, but couldn't think of anything to respond with. Sirius gave James a high five for his victory.

They all walked out of the room a few minutes later after thanking Adrian profusely, clutching their purchases as they walked back up to Gryffindor tower.

"Well I'd say that was a very successful hour," Alice said, swinging her and Frank's interlocked hands as they walked up the stairs.

"Yeah, Adrian is the best!" Amelia grinned, tugging on Remus' hand as she pulled him up the stairs behind her. He followed with a bemused smile, still having a hard time believing that this pretty girl before him wanted to be with him, fur and all.

"So what did you get?" James tried to spring on Lily for the fourth time since they walked out of the room.

"We told you!" Lily groaned again, "We will not tell you. It's a surprise. Just like yours. You'll see on Monday. Stop asking me!"

James just chuckled as they finally made it up to the portrait of the Fat Lady. "See you girls in Charms!" he called, following the other boys up the staircase to their dormitory. Halloween was only three days away.

**So there you go! The next chapter will be the Halloween party, and then I'll move on towards Christmas. I will post soon!**

**A note about Professor Wadsfellow: My brother made him up. haha I asked my siblings who should be the DADA teacher, and my brother came up with Professor Wilhuff Wadsfellow. He made up everything from his age, to his personality, to his appearance and his name. Thanks Steve! (you can see the professors picture on my website)**

**I have posted new character profiles on my website (the link is on my profile page), it has actor pictures of who I think my characters look like, as well as their OWL scores so you can see who is in which classes. Take a look and tell me what you think of my choices!**

**Please leave a review! Even if you want to yell at me for taking so long to update, I just want to know you're still out there! Feedback make my day!**

**Thank you readers! You're the best!**

**-Yvonne**


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